Some terrific news to make my Monday:

“Dear Fort Worth Chapter:

It is my great pleasure to share with you that the Fort Worth Chapter is the recipient of the 2006 Chapter of The Year award within your respective chapter category!

On behalf of the Texas Credit Union League Chapter Program, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation for all the work and support of the Fort Worth Chapter Board. You all are a dynamic group of individuals with genuine dedication to the mission and vision of the credit union movement. This passion is reflected in the programs and events offered in and around the community the chapter serves.

Please share this exciting news with your fellow chapter members and area credit unions. Recognition of this honor will be displayed and announced during the 2007 TCUL Leadership Conference and within key League publications.

Respectfully,

Lucinda M. Rocha Director, Chapters & Councils Texas Credit Union League”

With that news, 2006 is now the latest addition to the list: 1996 1999 2000 2001 2002 2005 2006

While Lucinda extends her congratulations to the board, we in turn want to say THANK YOU to our member credit unions and Preferred Partners!

Your participation and support of our efforts are what make our chapter so successful!

Mark your calendars. Our next Greet The Troop Days are Friday, June 1st and Saturday, June 2nd.

Call the phone number, beginning at 8:00 p.m. the preceding night (May 31st) for the flight arrival time.

972-574-0392

This gives you the time of the next days flight. Meet at Terminal D, International Flights. The USO will give you a parking pass for the day.

This week the Texas Credit Union Marketing Council presented the annual Lone Star Awards for excellence in credit union marketing, public relations and business development.

Our chapter was well represented in the awards with several area marketers garnering multiple recognition.

Among the winners:

• Janet Veazey of First Class American

• Bretta Butler of Fort Worth City

• Andrea Powell of Tarrant County

• Rochell Drake and the Marketing Team from Fort Worth Community

• Greg Barnes and Natalie Parish of Unity One

Greg was also named Marketer of the Year! Congratulations to all and thank you for representing Fort Worth and your credit unions so well!

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.