News & Events

Celebrating 40 Years of Building Community: Forty Years of Building Community - the Laborie Credit Union Story

By Lucius Ellevic

The Laborie Credit Union started operations in 1976. The idea of the credit union was born out of the realization that Laborians needed to mobilise their collective resources for the development of the community and in particular, to create means for the improvement in the quality of life of ‘jen Labowi’.
In the early days business was conducted only on Saturdays and over time business hours were progressively increased to daily openings. Business transactions were initially conducted by volunteers who worked on a shift basis. The first paid employee was appointed in 1980. The credit union achieved steady growth and became entrenched as the nucleus of economic activity in the community as indicated by the growth in its total assets: 1986 $0.39million; 1996 $8.8million; 2006 $29.6million; 2016 projected $143million.
Laborie Credit Union (LCCU) is a value based organization driven by an ideology which shapes the organization culture of the entity. That ideology is the summation of LCCU’s core values and core purpose and is captured in the following statements:

Why does LCCU exist? What is our cause?

1. To improve the standard of living and quality of life of our members.
2. To inspire our staff and officers to give of their best in the service of others.
3. To be there for our members in good times and in bad times.
4. To challenge the status quo.
5. To mitigate the effects of the failure of the market economy.
6. In short, to transform the lives of our members and their communities.

How does LCCU fulfill that cause?

1. By encouraging savings and giving prudent loans.
2. By offering products and services tailored to the life changing needs of every category of member.
3. By saying ‘yes’ when others say ‘no’ to worthy life changing loan request.
4. By assisting students and sports men/women achieve their full potential.
5. Integrating the community by participating in, celebrating and implementing initiatives that would preserve cultural heritage and build community.
6. By budgeting for smaller surpluses in the quest to fulfill the LCCU cause.

It is for those reasons Laborie Credit Union pays out over $30,000 annually to students, in the form of scholarships and bursaries. It is also for those reasons Laborie Credit Union is intimately involved with the Laborie La Rose Society and the Laborie Marguerite Society.

In the spirit of co-operativism , Laborie Credit Union in 2013initiated the formation of the Laborie Union of Co-operatives. LCCU was convinced that the establishment of that Union would create opportunities for building a stronger community economy and a general improvement in the well-being of the members of the Union (Black Bay Farmers Co-operative, Laborie Fishers and Consumers Co-operative and Laborie Credit Union) through co-operation, learning and sharing of management resources. The Union is well on its way to fulfilling its purpose.
After forty years of existence, the great challenge for Laborie Credit Union continues to be how to preserve its core as a co-operative and at the same time stimulate progress and thus remain relevant to the needs of its members. It is the various responses to that challenge which has propelled the growth of the LCCU over the past forty years and will continue to do so in the years to come. Co-operatives indeed make a better community and a better world.