The Chapter will again be coordinating Greet the Troop events in 2007. I don’t have any dates to publicize just yet, but I wanted to put this up while it was on my mind.

Anyone who has gone would tell you how touching it is to take part in Greet the Troops. ABC News recently selected a regular greeter by the name of Bert Brady as their Person of the Week. The piece does a really nice job of portraying what it means to both the greeters and the troops.

If you haven’t seen the clip it is on YouTube

Take a look at it and be sure to join us!

Those of us who have worked our school Christmas parties over the years know for a fact that we do it because we have just as much fun as the kids, and because it is such a terrific way to get into the holiday spirit.

Just the same, the “Thank You’s” mean a lot. This special thank you appeared in the Feb 10th Star-Telegram

The Winter 2007 Newsletter will be arriving soon via the mail, but you can view it here first!

Southwest CUNA Management School is coming up sooner than one might think. Once again, the Chapter is offering scholarships to employees of member and affiliated credit unions. The application and instructions can be downloaded here:

• Scholarship Application

Nancy Croix-Stroud, President of First Class American CU serves as the Chair of our scholarship committee.

Recently the chapter made a donation of 73 childrens books to United Through Reading, a program at the DFW USO.

Departing soldiers are video recorded reading a children’s book and the book and a dvd of the reading are sent to the soldier’s children.

More information is available at the USO’s website. There also was a nice article about the program in the Fort Worth Star Telegram

The Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions is planning to Greet The Troops as they return home from Iraq on December 1st and 2nd. If you, or your credit union, would like to join Fort Worth Credit Union’s welcoming the men and women of our military for their service to our country let one of the chapter officers know of your plan to participate. To get the times each day of the returning flight you can call, 972-574-0392 each evening after 8:00 p.m. and get the expected flight time of the next days arriving flight. Be sure to call after 7:00 a.m. on the day of arrival to make sure the flight has not been delayed. (Last time one flight was delayed until after 4:00 p.m.!). The troops arrive at Terminal D, International Arrivals (gate 22). You may park directly across from the entrance. Parking passes are obtained from the USO as you arrive so there is no parking fee or charge to your toll tag.

If you did not participate with us before this is an experience you will not want to miss. Taking the time to welcome the men/women returning from the mid-east makes you feel good, makes you feel very patriotic, and the looks/smiles/warmth on the soldiers faces as they see us, get our hand shakes and thanks makes you glad you took time out of your busy schedules to let them know that we appreciate what they do and sacrifice from their families in their military duty. This is truly a function you will want to participate in.

Mark your calendars! Family, friends, and kids are welcome. Let us know if your credit union plans to participate, and if they are participating one day, or both days.

For more information or to RSVP for your credit union contact Nancy Croix Stroud

Our annual holiday parties at Sam Rosen Elementary in Fort Worth and Webb Elementary in Arlington are fast approaching. The chapter always gets great support from our member credit unions and partners in putting together these events. Anyone who has ever helped at one of these events will tell you it is THE best thing they do all holiday seson long.

Here’s the schedule:

• Dec 5 (morning) Party Prep at Sam Rosen
• Dec 6 (all day) Party at Sam Rosen
• Dec 12 (morning) Party Prep at Webb
• Dec 13 (all day) Party at Webb

We would really appreciate your support this year. Kathie Wood is in charge of gathering cash donations. Vince Heimann is coordinating the donation of coats. Coats should be new or gently used and cleaned.

If you are interested in volunteering, Raymond Shands is scheduling voluteers for Sam Rosen and Vince Heimann is scheduling volunteers for Webb. Even though the parties last all day, you are welcome to work only part of the day if that is what you can do.

All volunteers must be approved in advance by the respective district. Click here for a copy of the Arlington ISD volunteer form. The form has 3 pages, and the 3rd page is all that is required to be filled out. Please fill out the form and forward it to Vince, his fax number is 817-273-5913. The Fort Worth ISD volunteer form is one page, be sure to copy your I.D. on to the form and fax to Raymond at 817-882-0136.

Turnaround time on the approvals is about two weeks so please get them in soon. You may also want to plan in advance for substitute volunteers by having them fill out the form as well.

If you need directions to the schools, click on their names above.

Lastly, check the comments to this post for any subsequent information from the committees.

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)