Stories from the Edge - Volunteer Now

It would be unfair to say Credit Unions do not make a surplus but that surplus is drilled back into the Credit Union for thebenefit of its members without faceless speculators making a profit. "It is guided by a caring ethos that is opposed to thatruthless and selfish speculation of the stock exchange,” according to Jerome Dawson, a Director of the Irish League of CreditUnions. He is one of the founders of the Northern Ireland chapters of Credit Unions and is also a founder Member andChairman of the Ballyhackamore Credit Union.In the last three decades, Jerome, a former Hughes Tools employee has travelled 1000’s of miles across the world helpingothers learn from his experience. He is not paid for spreading his skill and adroitness. He is a volunteer who gives his time tohelp others. Jerome Dawson is a modest man wholives in modest suburbia in east Belfast. His home"It is clear he isenthusiastic about hisvolunteer work to dayas he was then"is neat and comfortable. It is clear that it is theproduct of a lifetime of work. Like his home,Jerome also appears modest and somewhatbemused that anyone would want to interview himabout his volunteer work. He explains he hasrecently come back from Gambia where a team ofCredit Union volunteers were training locals inmoney management. He has also trained people inthe former Soviet Union and in Albania. The CreditUnions are attempting to get ordinary people tohelp themselves. Jerome said this is not someutopian pipe dream but a reality.The Credit Union movement came to Ireland from the United States in 1959 to the outskirts of Dublin. It had taken over ahundred years for the movement to travel to the USA from Europe where it originated as a friendly society to help strugglingsmall farmers and peasants. Its first port of call was in Canada where its small rate of interest was in direct competition withthe banks.Then it went south to the United States before crossing the Atlantic again to Dublin.A handful of individuals bandedtogether to sink their savings into a common fund to help each other. The movement moved North where it established abranch in Derry. Not surprisingly one of the founding members was John Hume now SDLP leader, Euro MP and WestminsterMP. Today there are some 530 Credit Unions across the island of Ireland that are affiliated to the Irish League. From a humble200 members with a meagre £450,000 capital in the early 1960s the movement has grown to 2.5 million members with acool £4,100 million.In those early days Jerome attended a meeting in the Ballyhackamore district of like minded people who wanted to save. “Ifrealised then what was going to happen in the next 30 years I think I might have walked away,” he smiles. It is clear he isenthusiastic about his volunteer work today as he was then. “I enjoy helping others in the community,” he said. He realisesalso he is human. “There are evenings I feel like just sitting in front of the television, but I have to go out and attend a meetingsomewhere up the country.” It's when the meeting starts that he takes everything in his stride.Jerome explains that those who rule the roost are all ordinary men and women who give up their free time. Volunteers areresponsible for overseeing policy and that the chapter is run correctly. He is confident that this is democracy operating. He is