Wednesday is the monthly Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce forum where people can participate in an open discussion on different topics. This month, Shane Berger from Beehive Federal Credit Union will share his experiences he had overseas.
For over 10 years Berger has participated in the World Council of Credit Unions. In 2006/2007 they asked him if he would go with a few other Idaho credit union CEO’s to the Solomon Islands to help struggling credit unions there. In the end they were not able to help the credit unions in that specific area at that time, but he has continued to serve other credit unions in all different countries.
In the last four years he has gone to Moldova three times, a poor United Kingdom country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. During that time he has held seminars, met with regulators, sat with government officials all in an effort to help them serve their members better.
“The first time we held a conference there and met with credit unions all over Moldova,” he said. “The second time we did the same thing and traveled to credit unions and consulted throughout the country and the third time we had countries from Romania come and join us which is what I think will happen in the future.”
Serving others is something Berger has been doing for a long time. He credits his love of helping those in other countries to his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he served in Bangkok, Thailand.
“It taught me when you serve people you love them and you get a lot of satisfaction from being able to help and serve people in other lands,” Berger said.
Berger says he hopes when people come to the forum they find that they can serve others throughout the world and enjoy it.
“I hope they will understand from what I say that by becoming acquainted to people in different countries they really will grow to love them,” Berger said. “And it helps the world be a more cohesive place when you have friends in foreign countries and they respect you and you respect them and just the relationships you build and very enjoyable and very satisfying.”
Berger says one time he had a meeting in Thailand and people from all over the world were there. He ended up talking to a man from Mongolia. Berger knew a person from Mongolia and so he asked if he knew the woman, who had been a student at BYU-Idaho.
“By chance he knew her!” Berger said. “Here I am in Thailand in Southeast Asia talking to a gentleman from Mongolia and we knew the same people. It just goes to show you that the world is a small place and you can make a connection with people so easily from other countries and in this case I did with him.”
Through his experiences Berger says traveling has given him a different life perspective.
“You will find that people all over the world are good, that are good honest people,” he said. “That there are people who are willing to help other people.”