SCAM ALERT: Postcards are showing up in the area claiming to have important “time sensitive” 
information on your mortgage. These are a scam. If you receive one of these postcards, you do not need to call the 1-800 number on the card and you do not need to take any further action. Simply throw the card away.
Northeast Community Credit Union is helping to sponsor the Kids Like Us Community Learning 
Center’s Magic Movement Program.
KLS Director Lisa Lyons explained the Center is partnering with local businesses and individuals to provide a fitness and nutrition program for students at Kids Like Us. Kids Like Us is a community center that provides educational and social opportunities for individuals of varying abilities in Northeast Tennessee.
“Fitness and healthy living are something our clients struggle with,” Lyons said. “Some of them are overweight. It is hard for them to go to the gym because of sensory issues.”
Lyons is working to bring the gym to them. She has partnered with local personal trainers, physical therapists, gyms and nutritionists to create a healthy living program for Kids Like Us clients.
The professionals will come to the KLU center, help develop an on-site gym and a program for the clients to follow. They will also address nutrition and healthier eating choices. On days the volunteers can’t come to center, students will use a large-screen TV to take part in interactive training programs and activities.
NCCU also sponsors the Kids Like Us Teen Apartment which helps teens at KLU learn socialization and occupational skills as well as learn independent living skills.
The new year is giving scammers an easy way to forge documents, but you can protect yourself with an easy New Year’s resolution: Stop abbreviating the year.
Why? This year’s abbreviation is easily changeable and could be used against you. The concern is that scammers could easily manipulate a document dated “1/1/20” into “1/1/2000” or even “1/1/2021.”
Writing out the full date “could possibly protect you and prevent legal issues on paperwork,” according to Hamilton County, Ohio, Auditor Dusty Rhodes.
While it’s early in the year for examples of this kind of fraud to emerge, the threat is real according to Ira Rheingold, the executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
In a message emailed to USA TODAY Thursday, Rheingold said scammers could use the method to establish an unpaid debt or to attempt to cash an old check.
“Say you agreed to make payments beginning on 1/15/20. The bad guy could theoretically establish that you began owing your obligation on 1/15/2019, and try to collect additional $$$,” Rheingold wrote.
In the future, post-dating could be a problem too. For example, a check dated “1/1/20” could become “1/1/2021” next year, possibly making the uncashed check active again, Rheingold wrote. A similar method could be used for debts that are past the statute of limits.
The solution is easy: There’s no harm in writing the full date. Writing the month out can also help.
Write this: January 15, 2020. Not this: 1/15/20.
–Article originally published on USAToday.com
Amy Ensor, second grade teacher at West Side Elementary, is the latest Northeast Community Credit
Northeast Community Credit Union Ben Smith presents Amy Ensor with the Helping Teachers Teach check.
Union Helping Teacher’s Teach winner.
Ensor applied for the Helping Teachers Teach grant to purchase Seat Sacks for each of her students. The seat sacks go on the back of the student’s chair and will be used to store the students’ Accelerated Reading Program books, keeping them in reach for when they are needed. Currently, the AR books are kept in lockers in the hallway outside the classroom.
“Each day we spend 30-45 minutes independently reading at our desks for the Accelerated Reading Program,” Ensor said. “If the students have access to their books, they can spend more time reading without interruption. Research has shown that reading increases learning and will drastically improve comprehension.”
Northeast Community Credit Union awards $300 every month to a classroom to be utilized for classroom needs, classroom activities, and academic enrichment. Helping Teachers Teach is open to teachers within Carter, Johnson, Unicoi, Sullivan and Washington counties who are members of Northeast Community Credit Union. Area teachers may become members at any NCCU location and can download the grant application on the credit union’s website: www.BeMyCU.org.
Northeast Community Credit Union presented a $500 donation to Assistance and Resource Ministries
Velda Sizemore, NCCU Member Service Specialist, presents ARM Executive Director Faye Ingram with a donation of $500 for Assistance and Resource Ministries’ programs
(ARM) as part of their annual partnership with the non-profit agency.
ARM relies on community donations to provide assistance to 700 to 950 people each month. ARM provides meals, monthly food boxes, clothing, baby supplies, vouchers for additional household needs, referrals to other agencies, employment counseling and much more.
ARM Executive Director Faye Ingram said the donation will be used to help fill in the gaps where clients need it most.
“This is one of the tougher times of the year,” Ingram said. “There is a lot of need in the community, and this donation will help out tremendously.”
NCCU has a long-standing relationship with ARM and has supported the agency throughout the years with fundraisers, volunteer hours and collection efforts.
“ARM diligently works to benefit the needy in Carter County and helps with necessities for people who often slip through the cracks in the system,” NCCU President/CEO Teresa Arnold said. “We are thankful for a chance to help and support their cause.”
To donate to ARM or for more information, call 423-542-0919 or visit http://www.armfoodpantry.com.
Santa Claus is coming to town, and he’s making a special stop at Northeast Community Credit Union in 
Elizabethton.
Santa will be available every Friday between now and Christmas from 2-4 p.m. at Northeast Community Credit Union’s main office. The office is located at 980 Jason Witten Way in Elizabethton, directly behind Elizabethton High School.
The public is invited to stop by, share their Christmas wish lists, and take a picture with Santa. Your family will need to bring a camera or phone to snap your photo so no waiting for emails or developing your prints. Your pets are welcome to come visit Santa for your photos, too!
For more information, call the Credit Union at 547-1200.
Northeast Community Credit Union donated a new high-capacity popcorn popper to the historic Bonnie
Kate Theater.
The theater had been using a smaller popcorn popper which made it difficult to meet demand during events. The new machine will make it easier for the Bonnie Kate to serve its customers.
“It will definitely help,” Bonnie Kate Restoration Board Member John Huber said. “There are times when it was hard to keep up because the old machine would make such small amounts.”
The restoration committee has been working to bring Bonnie Kate back to its former glory. The group has hosted several events at the Theater as fundraisers for the restoration projects.
The next event at the Bonnie Kate will be the Cans Film Festival on Saturday, December 14. This is a joint fundraiser for Bonnie Kate and Assistance Resource Ministry. The festival begins at 1 p.m. and features three movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol at 1 p.m.; A Christmas Carol at 4 p.m.; and Scrooged at 7 p.m. Donations of canned foods will be collected for ARM and a $3 donation for the Bonnie Kate Restoration Project is the suggested ticket admission.
The Bonnie Kate Theater is located at 115 S. Sycamore Street, Elizabethton.
Amy Hyder, special education teacher at Elizabethton High School, is the latest Northeast Community 
Credit Union Helping Teacher’s Teach winner.
Hyder applied for the Helping Teachers Teach grant to purchase supplies so her students can plan, shop and prepare a Thanksgiving dinner. Hyder works with 16 students with varying degrees of disabilities, from moderate to severe. One of the goals of her classes is to help students learn and develop life skills, like planning for and cooking a Thanksgiving meal.
“This will allow them to use many of the skills they have been working on this year,” Hyder said. “They will plan a menu, learn about budgeting and have a first-hand experience in the grocery store, and ultimately prepare the food. Being able to walk through all these steps will help my students become more prepared for life after high school.”
Northeast Community Credit Union awards $300 every month to a classroom to be utilized for classroom needs, classroom activities, and academic enrichment. Helping Teachers Teach is open to teachers within Carter, Johnson, Unicoi, Sullivan and Washington counties who are members of Northeast Community Credit Union. Area teachers may become members at any NCCU location and can download the grant application on the credit union’s website: www.BeMyCU.org.
Here’s how it works:
Someone contacts you asking for a donation to their charity. It sounds like a group you’ve heard of, it seems real, and you want to help.
How can you tell what charity is legitimate and what’s a scam? Scammers want your money quickly. Charity scammers often pressure you to donate right away. They might ask for cash, and might even offer to send a courier or ask you to wire the money. Scammers often refuse to send you information about the charity, give you details, or tell you how the money will be used. They might even thank you for a pledge you don’t remember making.
Here what you can do:
Please report scams. If you spot a scam, please report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Call the FTC at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or TTY 1-866-653-4261. Or, go online at ftc.gov/complaint.
Your complaint can help protect other people. By filing a complaint, you can help the FTC’s investigators identify scammers and stop them before they can get someone’s hard-earned money. It really makes a difference.
East Tennessee Christian Home and Academy will be having their annual shoe drive from January-May 2020. They are accepting all shoes in any condition except for spiked high heels. Shoes should be either tied or rubber-banded together and placed in a large plastic bag secured with duct tape.
All shoes can be delivered to ETCHA, 517 Allen Avenue, Elizabethton. For more information, contact ETCHA at 542-4423.