WESTERLY – Westerly Community Credit Union (www.westerlyccu.com) fared well in 2006, as net earnings increased 6.9 percent to $826,142 from $772,727 in 2005, the credit union announced today.
Total assets grew 10.1 percent to $167.4 million from the previous year’s $152.0 million. Deposits grew 9.1 percent to $143.0 million from 2005’s $131.0 million, and the amount under management by Member Financial Services rose 32.2 percent to $35.2 million from $26.7 million in 2005.
Net loans surged 17.4 percent to $117.9 million from $100.4 million the previous year, as small business lending more than doubled to $15.3 million from $7.1 million in 2005.
Credit union membership also grew, by 4.4 percent.
The WCCU congratulated its Richmond Branch, which opened in 2005 at 64 Kingstown Road in the Wyoming neighborhood, for growing deposits to $9.3 million, loan originations to $4.1 million and its membership to 857 at year’s end.
The report was presented Monday at the credit union’s 59th annual meeting, held at Chester House in Westerly, credit union President Stephen J. White and board Chairperson William D. Horne also detailed the organization’s community involvement.
White focused on the “Investment in Youth” program, which encourages students at three middle schools to volunteer in the community while earning $3 per hour for their school’s parent-teacher organization, and the “Save for America” savings program that teaches good savings habits to local elementary school students. Save for America is now established at six local schools, where all students benefit from the program’s curriculum and 360 also take part in special “Bank Days.”
Horne spotlighted the success of the 23rd annual WCCU Holiday Basketball Tournament, where gate receipts rose 50 percent to $12,000 from the previous year’s record $8,000. The credit union donates all entrance fees to the participating high schools – Chariho, Exeter-West Greenwich, Stonington (Conn.) and Westerly – which over the years have received a total of $110,000 from the event.
This year, WCCU officials said, the credit union expects to complete the renovation of its Dunn’s Corners Office, which will gain a self-service coin counter and coffee bar – and eventually, extended hours.
