Good money, Good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
It is time now for a very special event here. We've got like
a little bit of a birthday celebration going on with Truity Credit Union. Miss
Freeman, how are you doing today? I'm great? How are you well?
I'm doing wonderful. I didn't get a party hat going on, and
I didn't start the streamers or anything, but this is a good day for
Truity Credit Union on all of its members. It was on this day this
thing kind of got the ball rolling for a new way of doing business in
Bartlesville. Absolutely. Yeah, we're really excited to be celebrating our eighty fifth
anniversary as an institution and really a huge part of the Bartlesville community obviously,
but also just improving people's lives for a long long time. Well, the
way it got started couldn't be any more bartleswield than what it is. It
is. It's a really great story. You know. Originally there were two
bits, is kind of the joke that we have around the office that took
two bits to open a savings account. That started with the secretary at Phillips
Petroleum Company, and if you gave her two bits she would hold onto your
savings for you, because the women were gathering their funds separately from the men
at that point, and so it was really a group of strong, independent
women, which you know, I love starting an organization that's now really changed
our community. It sure has. We have two beautiful locations kind of art
to really when you think about it, the big beautiful building in downtown Bartlesvillia
and on Southeast Washington Boulevard. Fancy Knew kind of got that art thing going
on down there too, very very colorful insight and out. But what's really
neat is what's inside, and that is probably the best work force you can
apply. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, we've had incredible loyalty among our
employees over the years, and I think that really goes to show that we
have strong culture that our employees believe in the mission of the Credit Union,
which is people helping people and serving our members. And so with that strong
sense of service, we just really go through every day knowing exactly what we
want to get accomplished and being able to really help people along the way as
well. And you know, it's more than just people helping people, it's
neighbors helping neighbors because it seems like I can't go anywhere in town. I
can't go to the grocery store or my high school kids events at school without
seeing somebody from Truity that I know because you booked are everywhere. Yeah,
we really you know, our folks really want to be involved in the community,
and as a credit union, we spend a lot of time making sure
that we're supporting the organizations that are supporting our friends and neighbors. So we
are in the schools and at sporting events and arts events and tons of sponsorships.
We just want to make sure that our community is strong because we know
that helps our members. It does, it helps everybody. You've got some
really cool ways to even help out our schools too. With the debit cards.
Absolutely, we do have a we call it our Spirit Card program,
so we offer debit cards that are specific to local high schools and different entities.
So in Bartlesviille we have our Brewing Card, our wool Rock Card which
gives back to the Frank Phillips Foundation, and our Tri County Tech Card oice.
So anytime our members use those, we take what would be our profit
from that and donate a percentage back to those organizations and have been doing so
for I think close to fifteen years now. Well, that is amazing and
it shows just how committed Truity is to our community and do people helping people,
and to really our members because they're the ones that are choosing to get
that card. They come in and say, hey, I want the brewing
cards, so my money all back to the districts. And it's great to
see everybody kind of chipping in together because really the opportunities are endless for those
to go back to the schools. It truly is. And with Truity,
you have some of the probably the most knowledgeable folks who don't come at you
as some kind of authoritarian although they know what they're doing. They work signed
by side with you instead of across a table, and I kind of I
like that we're here working with you aspect of it. All. That part
of the culture is key, it really is. And you know, that
reminds me of a new program that we're starting. We have certified financial counselors
in all of our lobbies now and we have an opportunity for people to come
in and meet with someone one on one to really go over their finances,
not from a let us tell you how to do it, but how can
we help you make this easier? How can we help you make sure that
your budget is where you want it to be, or that you're hitting the
saving school that you're looking for. Oftentimes there's a light bulb that goes off,
and you may understand this when you have kids getting ready to go to
college and you think, gosh, am I going to be able to do
this. So we're going to be able to make this happen. And so
we want to be able to help people make sure they've got money in all
the right buckets so that they can take care of their family and feel secure.
Now, this is something that I'm not aware of too many other financial
institutions where you have folks who are basically helping you help yourself in this manner.
We certainly feel like it's something different that sets us apart a better way
to bank, if you will, And we think that that attention and that
one on one kind of counseling environment is really going to help some people cross
that threshold from an insecure financial space to a more secure and competent space where
they feel good about what they're doing. Well, boy, I tell you
what, if there's something people need these days when it comes to their finances,
a little bit of confidence, because you know, sometimes we have high
highs and low lows and all that great stuff in the middle. This kind
of irons it out, kind of makes it all level for folks, and
it makes it easier to to get through and not be so apprehensive. It
does. And you know, I will tell you that I've been doing this
for eighteen years with the Credit Union. I've met with hundreds of our members,
probably thousands of our members over the years, and no one is really
as secure about their finances as they make appear to be, and so there's
always an opportunity to better yourself. No one is without credit card debt,
no one is without you know, the occasional oh I thought I had a
little bit more money than I did and I you know, how to check
that balanced or whatever it might be. And so we just want to make
sure that everyone understands that that's a common situation and we want to make sure
that you know how to fix it and know how to not have it happen
again, or get that credit score up so you can get into your first
house those kinds of things are just so important for families. Indeed they are.
You have a lot of the technology that is really you dart and useful.
I was never really a fan of technology until I was pretty much forced
to be into it many years ago, probably when I was in my forties
or fifties. But now that I'm sixty four, I can't live without it.
And that, of course, you've got it right there on your phone
in a lot of cases where you can take care of a lot of things
financially. Absolutely, you know our app and is essential. I know,
I pull it up almost every single day. I rarely even go down to
the lobbies anymore because I can do so many things on my phone. And
that's just one of the ways that we're investing in technology so that our members
can do things more easily and be able to do their banking wherever they are.
And that's that's another one that makes you breathe a little easier too.
You know what's going on, You see what's going on, and it's practically
up to the minute, you know, as close to up to the minute
as you can get. And it just serves as a good peace of mind
investment too, So Folks, if you're a member of Truity and you haven't
gotten the app invest in, that you got to do is push the button
and next thing you know, it pops up on your phone. Yeah,
and don't be afraid to go in and check it out. Sometimes we get
so used to just going in to check the balance or whatever it might be.
The things on there, there's other pieces in there. You have the
ability to monitor your credit score. We have what we call a quick cash
loan now, which is really an alternative to payday lending. Those payday lenders
are really really bad and kind of can get people in a bad cycle.
So if you're if you have an emergency car need or health need or something,
we have a new a new program that will allow you to just grab
that loan without any decisioning for a little bit of quick cash there. And
that's really helpful for people as well. So there's a lot of things in
the app that can that can really help people very good. We were talking
about how Truity is involved in the community, and you brought in a whole
list of things about what's going on in the community where Truity is partnering or
just lending and jem hand in all of this. Yeah, we really you
know, as I mentioned, being a good corporate citizen is one of our
you know, key pillars at the Credit Union, and we have so many
things that we're sponsoring that I just wanted to kind of remind people about you.
So this Saturday, Past to Independence and Daybreak Rotary are doing a grilled
cheese competition down at Cooper and Mill. I don't really know what could be
bad about grilled cheese and a beer from Cooper and Mill. So I'll tell
you about it because I'm a judge. Absolutely, you got somebody we both
know, Dennis Hoppern is going to be right there with me. Yes,
there's going to be a lot of truity folks down there, and we're excited
for that event on Saturday. That's of course helping Past to Independence. Next
week is Bruins of the Year, which is like our Teacher of the Year
and staff of the Year at Rigden Field. So that's a really fun event.
It's a lot of fun to go and be a part of that.
It is, Yeah, And then next Friday we're actually hosting Barstbool Art Association
is doing a little downtown art and we'll be hosting high school students artwork in
our lobby on Friday night from six to nine. It's free. Anybody can
come. I think I'm gonna have some cookies, you know, just a
little snack while you produce some artworks. So that's happening next Friday, and
then next Saturday is like the day of Operation Clean House, which is the
opportunity to get rid of any of those hazardous materials from your home. And
then Truity brings in a shred truck, So we're bringing in a big truck
for people to bring all their shred. You drive through, get it out,
they shred it for you right there. That'll be happening early in the
day. And then after that is the city block Party and we'll be there
with the food truck grilling out. The police department helps put that on with
other community partners. So it's gonna be a big couple of weeks just getting
through getting through April. You know, I forgot about the shred thing.
That's pretty darn important. People have all kinds of things that they need to
shred and get rid of, and this is it's the best way to do
it. It's safe, it's ecological and it just works out well for everybody,
and you know, it's a great example of how we try and work
with our community. So Trudy had done a shredfest on our own for years
and we would get a good long line and it was at one of our
branches, and it was the whole thing. But once we knew more about
Operation Clean House and the intent of that and the promotion they do and the
people that come to it, it was a perfect partnership for us to be
able to say, hey, let's all work together because we can get more
people coming to both events if we do it together, and we'll have employees
out there volunteering, helping gets top out of cars. It's going to be
a lot of fun. Eric dellas how folks can find out more about Truity
Credit Union, not only its history, but it's present and plans for the
future, and how you can work with Truity and Truity can work with you.
Sure, So our website is really the very best way to find out
about us. I just say, go to the Googles, Go to the
Googles and type in Truity Credit Union and you'll find us there. It's true
DCU dot org. On our website, you can find all sorts of financial
calculators to help you if you're trying to make decisions. You can search for
cars on there. You can find out information from our blog about like things
about your credit score and how to do budgeting things like that. And then
we also have a community section where you can get in touch with any of
the community advocates like myself or Nicole McKinney here in Martinsville, as well as
our giving page where you can apply for sponsorships. So it's all there on
the website and we encourage people to go out. We also have a chat
feature on the website, so if you don't see something you're looking for,
just chat someone and they can help you find it. Get that link.
Well, Happy eighty fifth birthday to Truity. Thanks, I look pretty good
for eighty five, don't you think you? Yeah, you get she's twenty
five. Don't let her fool you. All right there you go, Thank
you very much, and we've been genlebrating with Truity. Grantit union right here.
Okay, when it comes to you, we're children, choosing the ride
daycare is important. You are