LUBLIN, Poland–They may lead organizations significantly different in asset size, but the last 500 days for two credit union CEOs in Poland have been remarkably similar when it comes to learning how to pivot in the face of a war, how their employees and members are responding, what refugees really need, and why CU membership for those refugees is not the first priority.
In separate interviews with CUToday.info, the two leaders of credit unions that are approximately 275 kilometers apart spoke passionately about how they and their CUs have responded to the war on Ukraine by Russia and the more than 13 million refugees who hurriedly escaped the country, with some moving through Poland to other places and some since returning.
The interviews were part of a week-long tour of Poland and Ukraine’s CU communities arranged by the Via Stella Foundation, the joint effort by Polish and U.S. credit unions to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and to assist Ukrainians themselves, such as by purchasing ambulances. CUToday.info documented a trip into Ukraine to deliver two ambulances here and documented how the Via Stella Foundation is supporting Ukrainian orphans here and women’s clinics here.