NEW YORK—The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, visited the offices of Polish & Slavic FCU here, the nation’s largest ethnic credit union. Duda made the visit prior to attending events at United Nations General Assembly.
At the historic building in Brooklyn’s “Little Poland” neighborhood of Greenpoint, Duda was welcomed by scores of credit union officials at the site of the first branch of the 39-year-old credit union.
“Nearly 40 years ago, a group of community activists gathered around Reverend Longin Tolczyk, a priest from the Podlasie region, to come upon an idea of how to help Polish people arriving from behind the Iron Curtain to achieve their American dream,” said PSFCU CEO Bogdan Chmielewski while greeting President Duda. “That is what led to the creation of this great institution, which has grown to more than 84,000 members and $1.6 billion in assets with 16 branches throughout New York, New Jersey and Illinois.”
Chmielewski recalled the humble days of the early credit union – equipped with a single desk and a wooden abacus in a cafeteria – as well as growth into the largest Polish financial institution outside of Poland.
“Thanks to you, many Poles have achieved success in life here in the United States,” said Duda in his remarks to the PSFCU management, board and employees. “Today I have asked for your solidarity, so that people who have achieved this success in the past and present are sensitive to those who have not been successful, help them and reach out to them.”
Duda is the second Polish head of state to visit the credit union’s Brooklyn operations. Six years ago, then President Lech Kaczynski also visited the PSFCU headquarters.