(Edmonton) – On Tuesday, December 15, Servus was honoured to receive the Government of Alberta’s Minister’s Seniors Services Award in the business category.

Since 1998, the Awards have celebrated individuals and organizations who support seniors, lead the way for improved services and contribute to strong communities. In 2020, the Awards featured new categories to recognize those who demonstrated leadership and compassion in serving Alberta seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Servus Chief Operating Officer, Dion Linke, accepts 2020 Minister's Seniors Service Award from Edmonton-Mill Woods MLA Christina Gray.

Servus earned this award for the senior-specific outreach program they conducted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As we made plans to help our members, we knew our senior members were going to be significantly impacted,” explained Dion Linke, Chief Operating Officer for Servus. “These are individuals who were considered to be at highest risk from the virus, but who also tend to come into our branches to complete their day-to-day banking needs.”

To mitigate these impacts, Servus launched their COVID-19 Seniors Call Program, in which a dedicated group of Servus employees called senior members who had time-sensitive banking coming up that might normally prompt them to visit a branch. Through the program, Servus was able to help nearly 4,000 senior members from April until early July.

“Once we started this program, we quickly discovered that it was about way more than just helping seniors with their banking,” said Mr. Linke. “Human interaction to help ease the feelings of isolation and simply manage the challenges the pandemic brought on for them was something our team found to be a really important part of their work.”

In addition to supporting senior members with their banking needs, here are a few examples of what Servus employees did to help seniors:

• Arranging delivery for food, postage stamps and cheques.
• Scheduling follow-up phone ‘coffee dates’ with members who were having a difficult time with isolation.
• Initiating monthly follow-up calls to help certain members pay bills because they weren’t comfortable coming into a branch or using online banking.
• Waiving e-transfer fees to help members better manage their money online.
• Branches making donations to local grocery delivery programs for seniors.

“In the middle of a pandemic, Servus Credit Union made it their mission to keep seniors safe, connected and supported,” said Josephine Pon, Minister of Seniors and Housing. “Servus had a profound impact by making a simple yet critical change to their business model that put seniors first during this difficult time. My deepest congratulations to everyone who was involved in this meaningful program.”

About Servus Credit Union Ltd.

At Servus Credit Union we're building a better world, one member at a time. We've been shaping the financial fitness of Albertans for over 80 years with a full line of secure financial services. We help members manage their money wherever they are through more than 100 branches in 59 communities; online, mobile and telephone banking; and 1900 no-fee ATMs across Canada. We re-invest our profits in our members and the communities we serve.

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