Several chapter members visited recently with Congresswoman Kay Granger. The group thanked the Congresswoman for her continued support of credit union issues and presented a donation on behalf of TCUL-PAC.

Pictured left to right are Scott Ward of Unity One FCU, Ron Fox of Members CU, Bill Gordon of Fort Worth City CU, Pamela Stephens of Security One FCU, Congresswoman Granger, Lonnie Nicholson of EECU and Chapter President Walter Furnace of American Airlines FCU.

I have to set aside my usual Lutheran modesty to post the following. Congratulations to all the recipients, but extra congratulations are in order due to the outstanding representation by members of the Fort Worth Chapter!

CUES HONORS 111 RISING CU EXECUTIVES, SEVEN TEXANS ON THE LIST One hundred and eleven up-and-coming credit union professionals were named as inaugural inductees into CUES Rising 100, the Credit Union Executives Society’s newest recognition program – seven are from Texas.

Award recipients are CUES Members from a cross-section of credit union functional areas, with the exception of the CEO position. The commitment, hard work and talent demonstrated by each has helped their credit union succeed and strengthened the credit union movement.

The inductees from Texas include:

• R. Dean Barnes, Jr. DATCU (Denton)
• William Kelsey, Texas Trust CU (Mansfield)
• Debra Little, First Service CU (Houston)
• Joan Opp, Texas Trust CU (Mansfield)
• Stephanie Sherrodd, Texas Dow ECU (Lake Jackson)
• Keith Sultemeier, Security Service FCU (San Antonio)
• Scott Ward, Unity One FCU (Fort Worth)

The Fort Worth and Dallas chapters will be holding a joint celebration of International Credit Union Day at Lone Star Park on Saturday, October 21st.

To allow us enough time to get tickets distributed we have a deadline for reservations of October 6th. Tickets will be available at our September meeting, you are welcome to bring your form and payment to that meeting.

If you need a reservation form click here

Reservations or questions can be direct to Terrie Johnson

Wow what a month! We’ve all been very busy with chapter activities this month.

Thanks to all the golfers and volunteers who helped make our annual tournament another success! It was a hot day, but everyone had a great time and we raised alot of money for TCUL-PAC .

I didn’t make it to this month’s training session, but I have heard nothing but raves about Patrick Adams. I understand he had alot of great information.

Our joint dinner with the Dallas Chapter that evening gave even more folks at least a sampling of the high-enery approach Patrick has to speaking. Special thanks to Terry Loyd and Liberty for arranging and sponsoring such a great night!

Finally, were the two days of greeting troops at DFW. Thanks to the generous donations of our member credit unions, we were able to provide a goodie bag for troops arriving from the Middle East for their R&R leave. It was great that so many credit union people, their spouses and their kids were able to join us.

As highly as I can recommend a day of golf or seeing Patrick Adams talk about credit unions, taking the time to go out to DFW to greet troops is something everyone should do!

A big “Thank You!” to everyone who participated in a very busy month, especially the volunteers who worked so hard to make everything go so smoothly.

Just a reminder that the annual Fort Chapter of Credit Unions golf tournament benefiting TCUL PAC/CULAC is scheduled for Wednesday August 16th at Fossil Creek Golf Club at 8:30.

For an entry form email Ron Fox or you can get a copy here

Registration is below average at this time, so please participate if you can. This is the chapter’s major fund raiser for our PAC’s so please help support our industry by keeping our legislative efforts strong.

The following just arrived in my e-mail and it’s just too good to do anything but post it word for word here

From: Lucinda Rocha

Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:37 AM

To: Walter Furnace

Subject: 2005 Chapter Recognition Program Announcement

Dear Walter:

On behalf of the Texas Credit Union League Chapter Program, it is my great pleasure to announce the Ft. Worth Chapter of Credit Unions as the recipient of the 2005 Chapter of the Year within the group one category of Texas chapters.

The members of the Ft. Worth Chapter are truly an amazing group of individuals whose passion and dedication to the mission and vision of the credit union movement are reflected in the programs and events held within the community you all serve.

Please share this exciting news with your fellow chapter board members and area credit unions. Recognition of this honor will be displayed at the 2006 TCUL Leadership Conference, in the Lonestar Leaguer, and at your next chapter meeting.

Respectfully,

Lucinda M. Rocha

Director of Chapters & Councils

Texas Credit Union League

The credit union trade press has really taken notice of a recent “Mega Bank” full page ad that ran in the Fort Star Telegram.

CUNA News Now made mention of the ad in a March 8th article about credit union conversions in Dallas and Fort Worth. Mentions have also appeared in the Lonestar Leaguer (password required) and in Credit Union Times (home page)

If you haven’t seen the ad, we’ve posted it here.

A special thank you to Fort Worth Community Credit Union for putting the ad together and for graciously including the chapter logo.

Our annual school parties are behind us. As they always do, the days with the kids put all of our volunteers in the holiday mood.

A big thank you to everyone who played a part in making these parties so special. Some gave of their time; some made donations of coats, gloves or money; some baked goodies and some pitched in extra at work so others could be at the parties. To everyone, THANK YOU!

“An extra candy cane in your stocking” for Mark Massey, Bruce Chadwick, Vince Heimann, Sheleah Hughes, Terrie Johnson, Kathie Wood, Raymond Shands, J.D. Shipp, Rita Dexter, Walter Furnace and all the guys who carried the games!

I have hundreds of pictures and only so much space to post them on the site. A few will go up in the coming days, but more may have to wait until after the holidays.

The Fort Worth ISD is also requiring checks on volunteers for the Sam Rosen party. I just got this from Raymond:

Attached is the criminal background form for Ft Worth ISD. Please note that the form requires a valid picture ID. I have talked with Mr.. Charles McCarty at Fort Worth ISD and he verified they have to have the picture ID. They do accept a copy of the ID, cut out and attached to the form. He also stated that he had to have the SSN in order to do the check but that before the approved forms are forwarded to Sam Rosen for their files it will be blocked out by his office.

• UPDATED 11/17/2005! Completed forms should be faxed directly to FWISD at 817-871-2839

Thanks for all of you help. If you have additional questions, please call.

Raymond Shands 817-882-0141

Ever wonder why you’re hit up for a donation for door prize tickets when you show up to a chapter dinner?

Besides having a fun way to keep everyone involved to the end of the meeting, the Chapter uses the funds raised from these drawings to meet our annual contribution pledge to the Texas Credit Union Foundation .

Those funds are earmarked for the newspapers in education program in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. During the fall, for ten consecutive Wednesdays, the Star-Telegram runs a full page financial education lesson that is used in schools throughout our area. In fact, credit union employees often go out in to the classrooms as part of the program.

Please check out a Wednesday edition of the Star-Telegram, you’ll see a lesson as well as the recognition the chapter and foundation are getting every week.

To maximize our donations, member credit unions take turns donating prizes for the drawings and our preferred partners also often contribute door prizes. If you’d like more information contributing door prizes, contact Terrie Johnson.

On the web: National Endowment for Financial Education and

Star-Telegram Newpapers In Eduction