While most of us spent the holidays stuffing ourselves around the dining room table, a group of friends turned that same venue into the start of a grassroots movement that's taking aim at those mega banks once deemed "too big to fail" - with impressive results.

www.moveyourmoney.info is an initiative that encourages account holders to withdraw their money from such big banks and move those funds to smaller, better-managed community banks and credit unions. Because of their community-focused conservative approach, most of these institutions avoided the risky lending practices that virtually devastated their bigger counterparts and are still lending to local consumers and businesses.

Since that first dinner, the idea has spread like wildfire. As of this week, the site - which puts today's big bank CEOs in the same league as the infamous "Mr. Potter" of the It's a Wonderful Life holiday classic - has attracted more than 1 million visitors who have searched for local community banks and credit unions in nearly half of the country's 40,000 zip codes. The mainstream media has also picked up on the campaign and bloggers have added their two cents - most of them praising the effort; some critical.

See what you think. Go to the site, check out the Capra-inspired video and then use the tools and links provided to find a community bank or credit union in your area. Having helped communicate the benefits of our community bank and credit union clients to their respective markets for years, I think you might be surprised by what you find.

Barbara Esposito, Copy Chief at Long Island advertising agency Austin & Williams, is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with more than 20 years' experience and a passion for Higher Education marketing. To read more about Barbara, visit her bio on the A&W web site.