The Bottom Line
Small business is important to Central Oregon, and to Mid Oregon. Find tips and resources for business, and information about Mid Oregon’s commercial services and business members.
Mid Oregon Credit Union Breaks Ground In La Pine
By T. Myers, published in the La Pine Chamber Connection
In a sunny ceremony on Thursday October 15th, Mid Oregon Credit Union officials, Board of Directors, staff members and invited community members gathered in the lot next to St. Vincent’s on Huntington Road to take a golden shovel to the dirt and start the building process that will result in a new Mid Oregon Credit Union branch in La Pine that is slated to open in the Spring of 2016.
Jan Uffelman, the Board Chair for the Credit Union joined La Pine City Councilor Dennis Scott, Sunwest Builder’s Steve Buettner, Mid Oregon CEO Bill Anderson, Board Member Doug Nelson, Cory Misley, Assistant City Manager for La Pine and Board Member Tim Johnson in lifting the first shovels of dirt.
Bill Anderson described the process that had been a decade in coming and he thanked his staff on the ground in La Pine, Tiffany Zeiler, for her good work, and gave a nod to Wayne Hanson and Kyle Frick for their leadership in pursuing the new branch in La Pine. Chairman Uffelman added that the process to have a La Pine branch began over ten years ago when they put La Pine on their long range development plan. With permits in place, an approved plan ready to go, Mid Oregon Credit Union will add this new branch to serve the over 1100 members thatlive in the area between Sunriver and La Pine and to be able to offer many more of the individuals and business here in this part of the tri-county area that MOCU has a mission to serve!
After the first shovel full, the community members who came to celebrate this new project joined the MOCU Board and Bill Anderson for a photo of the ground breaking event. Currently there is a local (Lending) office located in the Bancorp Mall. At this point, they can assist new customers in opening up accounts that will soon be held at the La Pine branch. For additional information you can call 541-382-1795.
Note: Justin Kackley will be the project manager on this project and Al Bufton will be the onsite superintendent. Sunwest’s goal is to start construction on October 26th.
Millennials: Six Reasons to Choose a Credit Union
It’s no surprise: Mainstreet.com reports that millennials are ditching banks for local, cooperatively owned credit unions. The customer-friendly service and simple, straightforward solutions that you demand are found at local, cooperatively owned financial institutions, so it makes sense.
Just in case you’re still asking, here are six other reasons to choose credit unions over banks:
1. Loans R us. You may need to secure loans, even if your credit isn’t in great shape. While banks tend to turn away millennials with low credit scores, credit union lenders roll up their sleeves and get to work.
2. We’re real people. You want to text or talk to a real person and get what you want, when you want it, and how you want it. Credit unions are about people helping people.
3. Got mobile. You demand access to your accounts whether you are at home or on the move. Credit unions offer tech and mobile services at the same level as banks.
4. Cool deals. You’re a smart social-media consumer who quickly identifies and shares opportunities, including for car loans or mortgages. Credit unions have the lowest rates and best terms.
5. It’s all about community. You value the role you play in your community. Out in the community is where credit unions can be found.
6. Low fees work. You’re on a tight budget. Credit unions charge lower overdraft fees than banks, more free checking and lower or no out-of-network ATM fees. Fewer fees at your credit union mean lower overall prices for top-quality financial services.
If you’re not a member of Mid Oregon Credit Union already, we want to meet you. Visit any of our convenient branches or check out our website at www.midoregon.com to get a glimpse of what we offer. If you’re already a member, thank you. We’d love to hear from you. Stop by today, email us or call (541) 382-1795.
Community Involvement- It’s Who We Are!
Involvement in our community is more than something we do… it’s who we are.
As part of our series highlighting the newest and best features of our recently upgraded website, today on “Website Wednesday” our #9 feature is our Community Involvement page. We hope that through this page more people will see how important we believe it is to support and engage is in Central Oregon communities.
As a not-for-profit cooperative, our members should know that participation through their Credit Union membership, deposits and loans make it possible for us to give back on their behalf to many important efforts and organizations locally. Acknowledging that many of today’s Central Oregon residents use online sources for information, we’ve provided more a better resource about our involvement.
More than writing checks
As our page states, Community Involvement is “Who we are”, and a big part of that is our volunteer commitment to support local organizations. We know our members and the community at large believe in personal service, and so do we. Significant community involvement is more than just writing checks.
On the page is a “Learn More” button which will open a PDF with snapshots of many of the things Mid Oregon does in the community. For example, we recently completed the summer campaign for the Great Drake Park Duck Race, where over $90,000 were raised and as an organization we volunteered, promoted and sold tickets to raise money for 5 Central Oregon Charities…each of which help children.
Why we place such a strong emphasis on giving back is verbalized in parts of some of our organizational statements:
“We demonstrate through meaningful involvement, our commitment to the communities we serve. We both benefit from and have a responsibility to help grow a healthy community.” – from our Foundational Vision.
“As the only credit union headquartered and doing business solely in Central Oregon, we recognize and share in a corporate social responsibility to our communities and residents. Mid Oregon Credit union has been recognized as an exceptional credit union in the area of social responsibility evidenced by its winning of the statewide Dora Maxwell award since 1998. We have accomplished this through our actions and strong belief in contributing to the community with both time and financial resources.” – from our Social Responsibility Statement.
Understanding Mid Oregon and Credit Unions
Please take a moment to check out our page and involvement, and hopefully you will get a better understanding of how important supporting our community is to credit unions and Mid Oregon. We welcome you to join us!