Mr. Buckley’s Wallet
Our Credit Union was founded by Mr. Frank Buckley, a custodian at Kimball Elementary School. His brother was active in the local Steel Mill’s Credit Union and the more Mr. Buckley heard him talk about how a credit union operated, the more enthused he became to start one for the District employees. It took him two years to get six other people who were willing to help him. In 1953, seven classified school employees each put $5 in the “pot” to give them enough money to apply for a state charter.
When the Credit Union first started, Mr. Buckley’s “office” was his broom closet. He literally ran the Credit Union out of his wallet. Many of our members still remember Mr. Buckley reaching into his back pocket to fund their loans.
The Credit Union was growing fairly well, but the charter members decided they needed to invite the certified employees (teachers) to join to provide additional growth. When the teachers got involved, they attempted a “take over” of the Board and Committees, (or so the story goes). The issue was finally resolved by deciding that there would be equal representation between the two groups on the governing committees.
After a few years, Mr. Hoyt, who was one of the charter members, offered to share his Maintenance Office in with the Credit Union. This was located in a Quonset hut attached to the bus garage. A fire in the bus garage made the Credit Union Board aware of how risky this location was for the staff and records. At about the same time, the District had built a new maintenance yard across the street from Antioch High. They gave the Credit Union permission to place a double-wide trailer in their parking lot. We are still there!
Our field of membership remained the “employees and retirees of Antioch Unified School District and the members of their immediate families” until 1996. At that time, the NCUA granted us permission to add the “students of Antioch Unified School District, members of their family and organizations of these students” to the list of people who could join our Credit Union.
By 1997, we had grown so much that we could no longer serve our members out of the old trailer. The District permitted us to build on the parking lot and we were able to remodel. We doubled the size of our building and created a whole new environment that the members have greatly enjoyed. When the new building was opened, it was dedicated to Rita Kundert, who had retired in 1992 after managing the Credit Union for over 20 years.
In August of 2007 the credit union opened our 1st branch office on the southeast side of town. Following the grand opening at the request of the superintendents from Oakley Union Elementary, Brentwood Union, Knightsen Elementary and Byron Union School Districts we expanded our field of membership to offer credit union benefits to these school districts. After the expansion of our FOM management and the board approved our name change to Delta Schools FCU,which represents all of the school districts
It has been a remarkable history with years of stability, strength, service and growth. Whether the members of DSFCU have been served “out of Mr. Buckley’s wallet”, a Quonset hut, a trailer or our new building….the commitment to our Mission Statement has remained the same:
“To educate our existing and potential members of the benefits and the philosophy of Delta Schools Federal Credit Union and the credit union industry.
To provide a safe, secure and innovative credit union through friendly, personalized sound management. That is the financial institution of choice by our members.”
For information on the services currently offered by DSFCU, please visit Products & Services.
