I would like to thank Editor-in-Chief Paul Gentile for recognizing our public awareness campaign in the May 3 edition of Credit Union Times.

He questioned the possible promotion of the Missouri Credit Union Association in this initiative. There is need for concern regarding the focus of this campaign – our focus is, and always will be, our member credit unions.

The role of the MCUA in the awareness campaign is to help strengthen credit union branding with a unified and consistent message, and to assist by directing consumers and policymakers to the resources available within credit unions at a local level. Each credit union makes an incredible impact within their community – and no one knows their communities and their members better. The MCUA and Fleishman-Hillard are working together to help credit unions tell their stories effectively to create the greatest impact on the public's understanding of our unique not-for-profit cooperative structure and the contribution each credit union has on the local level within their communities. This is why MCUA is working so diligently to establish credit union spokespeople from each chapter region within the state who are willing to share the credit union difference through the public media.