At the time, Visions was getting ready to open the Bethlehem branch, and the team began brainstorming the concept of "fun." One idea that floated to the top was of Muse becoming some version of an "Undercover Boss" (similar to the popular TV series) at the Bethlehem store.

"However, being six-foot-four and black, I realized it would be difficult to be a real undercover boss,'" he said with a laugh. "So we asked Giant Foods if they would let me become a bagger for a day and then pay for customers' groceries as a way to introduce our credit union to the community."

Muse bagged and paid for groceries from 9 a.m. until noon, when the new branch was officially set to open. The total cost of the groceries didn't add up to that much, according to Muse – about $3,000. "The least expensive was $8, and the most expensive was about $250," he said.

The concept was designed to integrate with the credit union's overall goal of engaging in random acts of kindness throughout the year.

"We thought this would be a good way to kick it off, going into the holidays," he said.

As such, the promotion was initially designed to be partially humorous. However, it ended up being much more heartfelt – something Muse began to understand as he talked with grateful customers and eventually heard their personal stories.

"One man was there with his son, and he was shopping for his grandfather, who was a veteran and had lost a limb working at a steel mill," he said. "This man was taking the time to go out on a regular basis to purchase groceries for his grandfather on his own dime."

In this case, Visions was able to pay for the man's grandfather's groceries.

Another woman was shopping for her incarcerated sister's children.

"The woman herself was also pregnant at the time," Muse said. "The $250 she saved on groceries by us paying for them meant that she and the children would have a Christmas this year."

Besides helping a lot of people, did the promotion generate new members for Visions? Not necessarily, but, according to Muse, that was OK.

"There is research showing that a lot of the value of television commercials for automobiles is that they create a sense of pride of ownership in people who already own the cars," he said.

And that's what happened as a result of Visions' event at the grocery store.

"Our members and employees seemed to get a lot from the experience," he said. "It turned out to be less about new member acquisition than about pride among current members and employees."

Since the event, Muse has heard from a number of members who thanked him for what Visions did. "This was a surprise to me," he said. "I wasn't expecting this at all, but, as I think about it, I have come to believe that what we did get was way better."

And, of course, while the promotion may not have directly and immediately generated new members, it is possible that "word of mouth" from existing members to their friends and neighbors could eventually increase membership.

In any event, Visions concluded the promotion went so well that there was talk of Muse doing the same thing again at another branch.

"However, I like 'different,'" he said. "I don't want to do the same thing again. As such, we are currently planning a list of new promotions for 2016. All of them are based on having fun, because we really do want to bring fun back to banking."

Of course, everything is flexible. One potential promotion that didn't come about was creating an impromptu community skating rink.

"It hasn't been cold enough, and we don't even have any snow, so that killed that idea," he said with a laugh.

Visions' mantra is to "make the credit union matter."

"I know it's difficult to make things matter to people these days," Muse said. "However, I believe that, if you bring enough value to people, then it will matter to them."