community banking

This afternoon Bree and Luke and I attended the annual meeting of our credit union, the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union, of which we are members, both individually and en mass, as the Ant Hill Co-op is itself a member of the credit union. Genesee Co-op FCU was started by David Knoll, who happens to be our friend, neighbor, and landlord. Little did I know that things would work out this way when I established an account there in 2004, when starting a housing co-op was only a crazy idea Ryan and I joked about. Credit unions are co-ops; members, account holders, share holders, and owners are all synonymous.

The Meeting was held in the credit union itself with a ring of chairs in the lobby surrounding the tables where we usually fill our deposit and withdrawl slips. There were maybe fifty people present, including the staff, who smiled broadly amongst all the familiar faces. The invitation to the Annual Meeting advertised, "Join us for great food & good conversation!" For the first hour we enjoyed delicious food prepared by a catering company based a couple blocks away that is itself a member of the credit union. The meeting was snappy. The minutes reveal that the business portion of last year's meeting took thiry minutes. This one was extraordinarily long at slighlty longer than an hour, but only because lots of people had lots to say. There was a report by the Board. There was a report by the CEO, Melissa Marquez, who once trained Ben and I how to make chiles rellanos like her grandmother used to make, and with whom I carpooled to Putnam Camp to visit Bree. We elected two members to the Board. At the end I invited everyone to a potluck at our house, to be held next Saturday at 5pm.

The credit union currently has 2600 members with $6,348,773 in combined deposits. $4,939,813 of this is loaned out to other members; the balance is invested elsewhere. Projects for the next year include installing an ATM (though they'll have to find a new place for the corkboard holding members' announcements), maybe some kind of online banking. And, of course, holding a festival to celebrate their 25th year. If you're in the Rochester area, stop by and set up an account; you won't find a friendlier bank anywhere.

café culture—if only

I remember now the advantage to the short days of northern climes in the winter: evenings of infinite extent. You think it's late, then realize it's only 9pm. As daylight was in the summer lavishly applied, now eveningtime is. Yesterday: Korean barbecue dinner, then a lounging in the pillows-filled nook at Java's cafe while forking chocolate brownie cake and sipping spicy "aztec" cocoa. (I'm not usually one for silly café creations, but hot chocolate + espresso + cinnamon + chili peppers = a winner.) Lying on pillows while eating chocolate cake, in the evening, in public—this is really the decadence in the best of ways. Then we retired to the loft.