Alphonse Desjardins was the man who organized the first "caisse populaire" in the province of Quebec and then spread the word about the benefits of credit unions to other parts of Canada and the U.S.

Desjardins, who was born in 1854, was trained as a journalist and published debates of the Quebec legislature in the late 19th century. From there he became the official French-language reporter of Hansard debates in the House of Commons from 1892 to 1917.

It was during a debate on interest rates that he came up with the idea of starting a co-operative savings and loan society that could operate on a parish level. Credit unions, as we know them today, were started in the mid-1800s in Germany. They are essentially member-owned financial institutions that provide a wide range of products and services.

Apparently, Desjardins spent some seven years studying, working, and even praying before at age 46 he launched the first caisse populaire in Levis, Quebec in 1900. Its beginnings were humble; about 80 members signed up within a month and their savings totalled just over $26. According to one source, however, one of the earlier members of this caisse populaire was Earl Grey, the governor-general of Canada best known for donating the Grey Cup, the trophy awarded annually to the team which wins the Canadian Football League championship.

Desjardins had a strong social and spiritual conscience and spent a lot of his own time, money, and effort establishing credit unions that would help people of all walks of life. He took his ideas to the U.S. and set up the first credit union in America for a group of Franco-American Catholics in New Hampshire in 1909. Eventually, he set up 205 credit unions in Quebec, the rest of Canada and the U.S. and by 1913 it became customary to call the new institutions "caisse populaires Desjardins."

Edward A. Filene, a Boston merchant, was inspired by Desjardins' work and helped pass the first Credit Union Law in the U.S that same year. Today there are more than 70 million credit union members in North America with assets of more than $300 billion.