Life in the church is a pilgrim’s progression of family reunions. At its best, Christian community is an approximation of family at its best, defined by members’ sense of common purpose and, often enough, shared affection.
This is especially true of the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union annual meeting each May. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles founded this economic justice ministry in the mid-nineties on the proposition that it is not easy for everyone who deserves credit to get it. Our late bishop suffragan, Chet Talton, played a pivotal role in getting it started. I’m a former board member. I loved every monthly meeting, and not only because dinner was almost always from El Pollo Loco.
The annual meeting is open to every credit union member. Those who don’t come don’t know what they’re missing. In all 15 of us met around a conference table at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park on Tuesday evening, sharing fellowship and dinner and going home with raffle prizes. Speaking of economic justice, exactly 15 prizes were available.
Sharing the financial details were board chair Canon Dan Valdez, treasurer Lou Duncan, and manager Johnny Lee. Last year, we booked 62 new loans totaling over $883,000, 41 of them to members of minority groups. Revenue was $30,369, a dramatic turnaround from 2024’s $18,652 deficit. Loans on the books total $1.81 million, up $84,000 from the year before. That’s good news. Federal regulators want to see us lending more money. We had 37 new members, up from 28 the year before.
A board member for 24 years and chair for 19, Canon Dan is preparing to hand the reins to his vice chair, Jennifer Goodman Miramontes, my friend from St John Chrysostom Church days in Rancho Santa Margarita. He and other officers, including treasurer Canon Anilin Pulido Collado, thanked volunteers in the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which helped 135 neighbors with their returns this year.
In an open forum, we talked about politics, because who doesn’t these days?, and a soon-to-be announced program of no-interest loans to disaster victims in partnership with Episcopal Relief & Development.
If you want to learn more about the little credit union that’s always a labor of love for its volunteers and staff, visit here: https://www.episcopalcredit.org.
