70 acts of kindness celebrate 70 years in community
The Dover-Phila Credit Union has only had three leaders in its 70-year history. They are CEOs Jack Dooling, left, Jason Garner and Dave Andreatta.
The Dover-Phila Federal Credit Union is celebrating 70 years of serving the community with 70 acts of kindness in the community. The Kindness Campaign began Aug. 1 and will continue through the end of the year. It includes a variety of projects designed to give back to the community.
The Dover-Phila Credit Union was originally established Aug. 5, 1953, when its charter was issued. Originally, it was for the employees of Warner & Swasey and was known as the Warner & Swasey Credit Union. Later when Warner and Swasey became Gradall, the name changed to the Gradall Employees Credit Union.
“Gradall Industries went through some ownership changes in the 1980s. The credit union wanted to diversify a little bit and open up their membership. We got approval from NCUA to open it up to everybody in the county. So if you live, work, worship or attend school in Tuscarawas County, you’re eligible for membership,” said Jason Garner, CEO of the Dover-Phila Credit Union.
Garner was a Gradall employee for 15 years before he began employment at the credit union.
The credit union still has many Gradall employees among its membership of around 35,000. If a customer moves from Tuscarawas County, their membership is not revoked, and there are now members from all over the United States. These out-of-town members can access services through other credit unions that are in the same network as the DPFCU.
The DPFCU has five full-service locations to serve its customers. The main location is in Dover on Fillmore Avenue since 1986. A north Dover office and a New Philadelphia office was opened in 1997. The following decade the Newcomerstown office opened in 2003, and in 2005 the Uhrichsville office opened.
The Dover-Phila Credit Union has only had three leaders in its history. Dave Andreatta started the credit union and retired in March 2014. Then Jack Dooling took the helm for a few years, retiring in April 2019, and Garner accepted the position and still serves as CEO.
Funds deposited in the credit union are protected by NCUA at the same level as banks have through the FDIC.
The DPFCU gives back to its members first, then to the community.
“The biggest difference between a credit union and a bank is credit unions are nonprofit. Our mission is to provide as good of rates as we can for people on their savings and as low of rates as we can for loans,” Garner said. “Our leadership is made up of about nine board members that are all voluntary. They’re not compensated, and they’re all members. So the members actually own the credit union, and the members participate in the management of the credit union through the board of directors. The nice thing is we’re able to make decisions on a daily basis that we put our members first in and profit second.”
More recently, with space at a premium, the credit union built an administrative building.
“We were running out of room for our back-office folks at the main office,” Garner said. “There are about 250 credit unions in the state of Ohio, and we are the 13th largest credit union in the state. The community has been very supportive of us over the years, and that’s why Kelsey (McConaha) has been heading up this campaign to try to give back to the community for the 70th anniversary.”
The credit union’s employees and board members will participate, and they suggested some of the kindness activities.
“We have a lot of stuff scheduled with local organizations, and then there’s some that we’re just going to be randomly doing on a nice day when we have the time available,” McConaha said.
Some things planned for the Kindness Campaign are a school supply drive, sponsored date night through WJER, food trucks at credit union locations, helping with United Way’s Rock-N-Run, planned activities at local nursing homes and senior centers, story and craft time at local libraries, helping at the food pantry, handing out passes for the Tuscarawas County Fair, gift card giveaways to support small businesses, working at concession stands at sporting events that support a cause, a turkey giveaway around Thanksgiving, a cookie giveaway around Christmas, gas card giveaways, a canned food drive, an animal supply drive and more.
The supply drives will be held in the credit union lobbies and will be open to members and the community to come in and donate.
Officials estimated the DPFCU has given back about $30 million over the past 70 years. Part of that amount is bonus dividends to members.
“The rest of it is for the community — its local organizations, libraries, schools. We provide free financial literacy to middle schools, high schools in Tuscarawas County,” McConaha said. “And then we also have an online wellness center for our members and for the community to look at called Banzai.”
They also provide low-cost financial literacy to local libraries and partner with Buckeye Career Center to provide a wellness program in the evening for students in the adult ed program.
“We have a partnership with the sheriff’s department for financial re-entry programs with their incarcerated inmates that we do,” McConaha said.
The DPFCU is running a special loan promotion for the 70th anniversary.
“We’re having a cashback offer for auto refinance loans,” McConaha said. “Those that switch their auto loan to the DPFCU can receive up to $700 cash back.”
Terms, conditions and restrictions do apply, and the offer runs until the end of September.
To help small businesses, each DPFCU location also will host a local food truck one day through August and the first part of September.
As for the next 70 years, the DPFCU plans to grow along with its members.
“I would say the biggest challenge today, I think, for the credit union is staying relevant with the younger generation,” Garner said. “There’s so many options out there for financing. We’re constantly looking at ways to improve our digital footprint to be able to offer the services that the younger members are looking for.”