Skip to main content

Firefighters First Credit Union Sweeps Chili Challenge

SAN DIEGO, CA  August 7, 2017

Firefighters First Credit Union on Saturday dominated the fifth annual Xpress Data, Inc. 2017 Credit Union Chili Challenge, winning First Place and the People’s Choice award with Second place being awarded to New Orleans Firemen’s FCU
“Fire Watch smoked the competition at the Credit Union Chili Challenge,” said Firefighters First Senior Vice President of Marketing Kelly Ramsay. “Congratulations to our dedicated chili team: Tim and Noemi Watkins, Stacey Miller, Crystal Jauregui, Chantel Perez, Kimberly Tobias and Pedro Quintanilla. We are so proud, and that was some darn good chili!”
The $1.2 billion credit union brought home two trophies from Del Mar Thoroughbred Club racetrack, $7,000 in prize money they will donate to the Fire Family Foundation and an entry to compete in the International Chili Society World Championships Oct. 20-22 in Reno, Nev.
“Congratulations to Firefighters First Credit Union for their strong showing this year,” XDI President Mike Cooper said. “Their teamwork and enthusiasm are an inspiration to the credit union community.”
Twenty-two credit union teams competed in the event. While most were credit unions located in Southern California, the Second Place winners, New Orleans Firemen’s the Federal Credit Union, traveled 2,000 miles to compete in the event. The $163 million credit union will donate its $3,500 prize to Children’s Hospital of New Orleans.
The $800 million Pacific Marine Credit Union of Oceanside, Calif., also won big, taking home $2,000 in prize money for Rady Children’s Hospital. Pacific Marine’s team won $1,000 for the Showmanship Award and another $1,000 with the Social Media Award for use of the #cuchili hashtag.
Third place was awarded to the $4 billion Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach, Calif., which will donate its $1,500 prize to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The $1.4 billion First Entertainment Credit Union in Hollywood, Calif., won $1,000 in prize money for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles for Best Booth.
“We were so pleased to host our largest XDI’s Credit Union Chili Challenge ever and donate $15,000 to charity,” Cooper said. “We look forward to welcoming, even more, credit unions next year and encourage everyone to consider hosting their own cook-off to increase employee engagement and foster team building.” 

Comments

Post a Comment

Please no profanity or political comments.

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Your Credit Union Without Expanding Your FOM

For many firefighter and other credit union primarly serving first responders, growth often feels tied to one big decision: expanding the Field of Membership (FOM). But what if you didn’t have to? What if growth could come from within —by deepening relationships, increasing engagement, and capturing more of the financial lives of the members you already serve? The truth is: it can. But it requires a shift in strategy. Rethinking What “Growth” Really Means Most institutions define growth as adding more members. But for single-sponsor credit unions, especially those serving first responders, a more powerful definition is: Growth = more value per member Many members only use one or two products—often a checking account and maybe an auto loan. Meanwhile, larger banks capture mortgages, credit cards, and investments. The opportunity isn’t just new members. It’s: More products per member Higher balances per relationship Greater share of wallet Your Biggest Advantage: The First Responder Life...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

When Vendors Price for Giants

 Grant Sheehan CCUE | CEO Opinion: When Vendors Price for Giants, They Shrink the Future of Small Credit Unions ! There’s a quiet squeeze happening in the credit union industry, and it’s not coming from regulators or competition from big banks. It’s coming from the very vendors that claim to support the ecosystem. For small credit unions, the problem is increasingly simple and factual: the tools required to compete with digital banking platforms, fraud systems, compliance software, analytics, and payments infrastructure are priced for institutions ten or even 100 times their size. The result is a market where access to essential services is determined not by mission or member need, but by asset size. This isn’t just inconvenient. It’s structurally threatening. Vendors often defend their pricing models as a reflection of complexity or scale. Larger credit unions have more users, more transactions, more integrations, so they pay more, and that seems fair on the surface. But t...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

How's Your Posture?

      April Blog   How's Your Posture?   Scenario Planning Is Dead! Long Live Strategic Posture. by That One Consultant You Hired and Then Ignored   Somewhere in your credi...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

Fed still holds off on rate increase | 2015-07-30 | CUNA News

  WASHINGTON (7/30/15)--Citing “moderate” economic expansion, the Federal Open Market Committee continues to do “a balancing act,” said CUNA Senior Economist Perc Pineda. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy-making body completed its meeting Wednesday without edging up the federal funds interest rate. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said the committee will opt for an interest-rate increase sometime this fall. The July meeting, however, was not the time. “The Federal Reserve continues to do a balancing act: the U.S. economy is not in a recession and definitely not overheating,” Pineda told News Now . “Changes in monetary policy after all are meant to influence an underperforming or an overheating economy.” Household spending growth has been moderate, and housing has shown additional improvement, the committee said. Labor conditions continue to improve with declining unemployment and solid job gains. Inflation is anticipated to remain near its recent low level in the near term,...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

What to Know About EV Lending

  By Ray Birch WEST WINDSOR TOWNSHIP, N.J.—There are a couple of important facts credit unions must keep in mind as they increasingly make loans for electric vehicles (EVs). The first is that while EVs are perceived to be more economical than internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles, one new report suggests that while electric vehicles are cheaper to operate, the overall savings may not be as significant as many people think. Moreover, as EVs become the dominant form of transportation, prices for charging—even at home—will begin to rise just like gas prices, one automotive industry expert is predicting. Sumit Chauhan, co- founder and COO at Cerebrum X, which provides AI-driven automotive data services and a management platform, s...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

Don't say NO to your members anymore!

Does the following scenario occur at your credit union? If it does, we have a solution for you! A member comes in into your credit union and wants to know if you will loan them a couple of hundred thousand $$$ to buy a building, or can you loan him some seed money to start a new business or purchase equipment for the company they currently own, and you say,  “the credit union doesn't do those kinds of loans”.  Does this sound familiar? How many times do you and your staff say NO and literally tell a member to  “go down the street or go somewhere else” ?  Well, now, you have another option.   CU First Responders Finance (CUFR) CU First Responders Finance, LLC (CUFR)  is a partnership between the National Council of Firefighter Credit Unions, Inc.   (NCOFCU) , and Biz Lending & Insurance Center, Inc. to provide business lending origination programs to NCOFCU member credit unions. CUFR  will provide you with a turnkey operati...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

TSA PreCheck Reminder

If you have not done this, I highly recommend you do! With plenty of summer days left to go, the Transportation Security Administration is continuing its PreCheck push. Earlier this year the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that more than 1 million travelers had registered for its time-saving PreCheck program. Now, as the summer goes into full swing, the agency is pushing to raise that number even higher with a new campaign to draw more on-the-go Americans. For the uninitiated, the TSA’s PreCheck program allows vetted travelers to move more quickly through separate security screening lines and to skip standard protocols, including removing belts and laptops during preflight security checks. To raise awareness of the program, the TSA will be sharing two new ads, one of which can be seen below, that explain the basic benefits of signing up.So if you still have some summer traveling on the books or perhaps to the NCOFCU Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashvi...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

NCOFCU Promotes its First Class of Credit Union Professionals (CCUP)

Announcing the First Class of Certified Credit Union Professionals (CCUP) Key West, Florida – The National Council of Firefighter Credit Unions Inc. (NCOFCU) is thrilled to announce the inaugural class of Certified Credit Union Professionals (CCUP), taking a significant step towards advancing the standards of professionalism and expertise in credit union governance. This elite certification program, launched during the NCOFCU annual educational conference, provides participants with a unique opportunity to enhance their professional development, gain specialized training, and expand their network while receiving guidance from industry leaders. Over the course of two years, participants will have engaged in comprehensive sessions covering critical topics such as governance best practices, regulatory compliance, risk management, and strategic planning. "Earning the CCUP certification signifies a professional's 2-year commitment to excellence and continuous learning in cred...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

IRS Reporting Proposal Scaled Back, but Still 'Flawed'

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats distributed an update to the controversial IRS reporting requirements that the credit union industry has been very vocally opposed to since it was unveiled in late June. According to the updated proposal rolled out Tuesday, it would require financial institutions to report inflows and outflows of personal and business accounts, as well as transfers between accounts of the same owner, if it is more than $10,000 per year. The proposal floating around for the past four months had the threshold at $600 per year. The requirements do not apply to payroll deposits for wages or to those receiving Social Security benefits. In response to the updated IRS reporting proposal, NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger said, “It has become abundantly clear that Americans oppose the IRS obtaining additional information on their financial accounts. The updated plan is nothing more than window dressing in an attempt to shore up support for a flawed proposal. Instead of creating financ...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»

2 Historical Moments: CUNA Mutual Officially Changes Name Today, As Union Also Calls Strike

MADISON, Wis.–One of the most iconic names in credit unions and credit union history in the U.S. will officially change today when CUNA Mutual Group begins operating under the TruStage brand across the enterprise. All enterprise, business-to-business and consumer brands are now unified under the single brand name of TruStage, which the company has been using for some of its products for a number of years. The new brand is being introduced at the same time approximately 450 employees represented by Office & Professional Employees Local 39 have gone on strike. It is the first strike in the company and the union's history. As CUToday.info has been reporting, the company and the union have been at an impasse since February of 2022, when t...
Post a Comment
Read Complete Article HERE>»