Lois Kitsch loves credit unions, and she travels around the world supporting them—even to Afghanistan.

“I love credit unions because I see them as a vehicle for change to help families grow, not only financially, but spiritually and emotionally,” she tells the CUNA News Podcast. “A family who isn't worried about money can focus on things that are really important in life: children, health, and community.”

Kitsch directs a number of programs for the National Credit Union Foundation including Real Solutions, which helps credit unions serve financially underserved consumers.

She also facilitates the Foundation’s popular Credit Union Development Education (DE) Program, which provides critical lessons in cooperative principles, credit union philosophy, and international development while incorporating challenges credit unions face today.

Kitsch has also focused on international development projects during her career with the World Council of Credit Unions. Those projects have aimed to build financial capability through cooperatives in some of the world’s poorest areas, including the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Africa.

“I've seen credit unions on six continents really change people's lives, from small entrepreneurs all the way to wealthy businessmen who have made a financial choice to support the credit union movement,” she says. “It's a movement worthy of support, and it's a movement worthy of all of our love and respect.”

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