VINELAND, N.J. – Two more credit unions have been featured as part of the New Jersey CU League’s Legacy Series of ads, which highlight the history of various credit unions in the state.
In the case of Bay Atlantic FCU, it was founded by nine factory workers, one of whom is a relative of the credit union’s current CEO.
“Generations of Family Friendly Service.” That’s Bay Atlantic FCU’s tagline, which was inspired and voted on by its members. According to the NJCUL, the credit union’s legacy drives this motto; the not-for-profit was founded over 75 years ago in 1939 by nine Kimble Glass factory workers who decided to join together for the mutual benefit of the group.
“We often see credit unions with deep roots in a community – Bay Atlantic takes that concept to a whole new level,” said the NJCUL in announcing the latest CU in its series. “One of those nine founding workers, Lillian Steelman, is the great aunt of Gail Marino, Bay Atlantic’s current president and CEO.” “You can say that the credit union is my blood,” Marino said in a statement released by the league. Marino has carried on that tradition of long-standing ties to the credit union, having begun working at the credit union (named Kimble Federal Credit Union at the time) in 1977 as a teller.
The New Jersey league noted that over the years Bay Atlantic FCU has grown to serve many other organizations, including Progresso and General Mills. But the credit union always stayed true to its primarily blue collar legacy of meeting the needs of workers and their families. With expansion, the credit union changed its name in 2002 to Bay Atlantic Federal Credit Union to better represent the area it serves: the section of southern New Jersey between the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Separately, Perth Amboy-based United Poles FCU is also highlighted. The credit union was founded by 13 Polish community members and to this day its ethnic heritage remains “an integral part of that community’s identity.”
“In the 1950s, the Polish community in Perth Amboy was a tight-knit one, gathering at one local banquet hall for all of their celebrations, from weddings to christenings to graduations,” the league noted. “When Polish immigrants were having trouble getting loans and other banking services due to the language barrier and other challenges, the community came together once again for a very different purpose than celebrations. Hearing about the cooperative concept of credit unions, 13 members of that community saw a solution, and formed their own credit union in 1965—United Poles Federal Credit Union. Their start was modest, with an initial deposit of just $3,200 contributed by its members. United Poles FCU wasn’t anything like a typical bank start-up in other ways too, lacking plush offices and expensive furniture—the credit union’s official headquarters was a room it rented above a local bar.”
Today United Poles has 2,200 members and $38 million in assets.
The ads note the credit union’s current CEO, Iwona Karpeta, came to work at the credit union in 1996 as a college student. She traveled to the U.S. from Poland for an internship, working on a thesis on the credit union movement. She stayed, moving up the ladder to a teller, loan officer, loan supervisor, and so on, eventually becoming CEO in 2005. She is only the fourth leader of the credit union in it’s over 50 years of service.
“I’ve worked here for 20 years and it’s more than just a job,” says Karpeta. “At the end of the day, it’s about helping people. And that’s exactly how the credit union started over 50 years ago. People saw a need to help each other, and today we’re trying to do the same.”
The NJCUL added that “You can feel the sense of community at the credit union. All five staff members, including Karpeta, speak the language. Each of them has been with the credit union for at least 10 years or more. They know most of their members by their first names and even know their voices when they call. They now serve the great grandchildren of some of the credit union’s original members and have watched them grow over the years.”