ORNL FCU 75 Years
ORNL FCU premieres as the first presenting sponsor for the Dogwood Arts Festival in its annual parade.
The highlight of community involvement efforts in 2003 occurred when ORNL FCU was presented the opportunity to become the first-ever presenting sponsor of the Dogwood Arts Festival. This annual springtime celebration was widely considered the premier community event for central East Tennessee.
In 2004, while two robotic geologists named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars to explore new terrain, ORNL FCU continued its own exploration of services and locations to meet the needs of a rapidly growing base of nearly one hundred thousand members. A new mission statement arrived: enabling our members to achieve their financial goals by being there when, where, and how they need us . New services introduced included the Quick Close home-equity line of credit and the Check 21 system, which expedited check clearing via electronic processing. While services expanded, the credit union continued to build on and improve its brick-and-mortar facilities with renovations completed in both the East Knoxville and Oak Ridge branches. The low interest rate environment of 2004 also produced bargains for members who borrowed. Loans outstanding grew more than 15 percent, much of this resulting from the convenient access to auto lending provided by ORNL FCU’s On-The-Spot dealer financing program. ORNL Federal Credit Union started out 2005 by being designated East Tennessee’s Best Credit Union by reader polls of both the Knoxville News Sentinel and the Oak Ridger . To improve convenient access for its increasing membership, new branches opened in South Knoxville, West Knoxville (within Food City’s Middlebrook Pike store), and Sevier County on Dolly Parton Parkway. As in other years, ORNL FCU employees generously volunteered their time toward many worthwhile organizations that served the community such as the United Way, March of Dimes, Buddy’s Race Against Cancer, the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), and countless others. The credit union also awarded a deserving student its fourteenth B. A. Candler/ORNL FCU Scholarship to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. And, in 2005, the credit union teamed with the Tennessee Conference Community Development to offer financial assistance to low- to moderate-income families buying their first home.
60 | 75 YEARS ORNL FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
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