Special Project/Event Eagle Award Winner Employee Appreciation Luau

Chapter Contact: Shelley Groves, Deere Harvester CU
Phone Number: (309) 765-7543

Here is our story!!

We as a Chapter have known for a while that participation at the Chapter meetings are slowly dwindling down. We realized that we needed to do something to bring more young people and staff in general into the movement and attend Chapter functions. The way to bring them in is to make it more of a social/party rather than a meeting. So we decided to have an Employee Appreciation Luau! Festive invitations were sent out asking everyone to wear island apparel, our Chapter Chairman even came in a grass skirt!

From the moment the over 200 people walked in, until the time they left everyone felt as if they were on a tropical island in Hawaii. Most employees wore tropical attire and were greeted at the door with a pair of sunglasses and Hawaiian lei. There were fishnets on the walls and dolphins and whales hanging from above. A swimming pool with water and water squirting fish were another evening highlight. Each table was decorated with sand buckets and toys.

The biggest highlight of the evening was the limbo and hula-hoop contest. There were about a dozen limbo and hula contestants who put on a very good show. Some found they weren’t as limber as they thought but all gave it a shot. Much chanting and cheering took place during the contests, each wanting their credit union to win. There also were a couple of piñatas to break and many stood in line to give it a good shot. At the end of the evening there were many door prizes given from generous donations of credit unions, individuals and vendors.

The impact at this event had is just as we had hoped, everyone wanted to now when the next event would be held and they learned that the Chapter meetings are a great way to network and learn from our peers. We heard much feedback from the Luau, with all being positive. All of our monies raised that evening was donated to CMN. The next Employee Appreciation Night will be May 2002, with the theme TBA!