This Thursday, May 22nd is the Credit Union’s Annual meeting.
It is the one day of the year that the offices close when it isn’t for a national holiday or bad weather. Their offices close because in the morning, before the meeting, they have to get together and set up functions and then go to the site of the meeting and set it up.
It is strange for me to tell you how it will be when I worked at the Credit Union years ago, so I am going to switch to tell you how it was for me, in the hopes that you will decide to come and check it out this year.
The staff would meet at the credit union offices in the morning and, where Zully Prieto, the master organizer at the office, and Lucy Hughes, our VP, would be busy gathering all sorts of baskets and boxes and piles of papers and coordinating that every single thing that we needed for the meeting was in one place. While drinking our coffees, we helped them with whatever they needed.
Then, we all piled all those supplies into the trunks of several cars and then we ourselves piled into the cars and drove the few blocks from the office to the OAS building at 17th and Constitution. Those few who were not needed to set up chose to walk there, as the sun always seems to shine on annual meeting days and it’s a nice walk.
The OAS has always been gracious and lent us the use of the Hall of the Americas, the amazing ballroom at the top of the building, overlooking the garden. For those interested, this is an article about the hall and its history. Those two enormous chandeliers are original Tiffany and have been there since the hall was first built in 1910; this hall has been the site of some historically significant events.
Anyway, I digress. When we arrived at the Hall, we had to set up the brochures and leaflets pertinent to the meeting. Nowadays, in order to be more eco-friendly, I know that the credit union has limited the amount of leaflets printed, and I find this to be a very thoughtful initiative.
We also set up a greeting table at the entrance with the box and tickets for the door prizes.
Soon thereafter you, our members, started arriving. I may have imagined it, but I always remember everyone dressing up a little more festively for work on the days the annual meeting took place. We got to greet you in a less business-like environment and to chat with you; the atmosphere was always cordial, friendly, and a lot more relaxed than you would expect from an annual meeting. Sometimes, if someone who we knew particularly well arrived, we would ask to be replaced at the table to go and greet them and chat a little. As much as we like to serve you, our members, we are only human and we all had and have our favorite people.
I liked this part of the meeting because the elders always arrived a bit early; and I don’t mean elderly -though often they are- but rather the original members. Those whose account numbers were numbered in one, two or three digits. These were the people who started the OAS Staff FCU fifty-two years ago. Among them was Mister Mario Yuri, now deceased, who was a respected, admired and loved figure by many of us as well as one of the founders of the credit union. He always made a point of meeting with these old-timers and they all stood outside the room, at the Hall of Flags and Heroes, catching up and well, just hanging out, like old buddies do.
It was great to see you all in a non-work environment and have the chance to mingle and talk, because even while we were still doing our job, it was not about day to day business, but about everyone’s interest in the Credit Union. It was such a good reason to get together, that members who lived farther away or abroad, if they were in town, made it a point to leave time to come to the meeting, and this always made for some happy reunions.
After a while, when the members had arrived, it was time for the speeches. First the Chairman (or woman) of the Board, the Treasurer, the Credit Committee and the Supervisory Committee gave their reports for the year. After that, the representative from the Nominations Committee gave a brief on how the nominations and elections had been conducted that year. I will say that either I was always at the wrong angle with respect to the speakers, or the sound system was from when telephones were still rotary, but most of the speakers to me sounded like this.
Once the reports were given, the chance was offered for any member to come up and address the officials of the Credit Union, and the members at large. That rarely happened or happened, but the annual meeting was (and still is) an open forum for all members to come and speak to the assembly.
Afterwards the voting took place, but this was taken away in later years once the Credit Union switched to online voting. Now the winners of the elections are announced at that time.
Finally, after the official part came the fun part: the door prizes. These always caused quite a stir, as they were rather nice prizes, and lots of amusement when quirky things happened, which they always do when people have to pull numbered tickets from a large box.
The atmosphere throughout the day was almost holiday-like in that we got to see everyone in a casual environment, even if the event was a most formal one. It was a delight to be present at those meetings, and hope that my brief insight has been enough to incite you to join come Thursday at noon. Who knows, you might run into some old buddies ;)
OAS Staff FCU Annual Meeting
Thursday May 22nd at 12:00 noon
Hall of the Americas
17th & Constitution NW
Washington DC
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