USF Federal Credit Union Offers Sterling Service In Tough Times

While the USF Federal Credit Union has stressed online banking, the lobby at the New Tampa branch on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. has been made safer for those who need an in-bank experience. (Photos: Charmaine George)

Like all businesses, the USF Federal Credit Union (FCU) has been forced to adapt and change throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, while many businesses have struggled, the USF FCU has continued to thrive.

The credit union’s New Tampa branch, which opened in the fall of 2018, is located at the northwest corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Imperial Oak Blvd., in the Trout Creek area of New Tampa, just south of County Line Rd. (across from Burger King).

While the New Tampa location’s lobby shut down in March, its drive-through window has remained open throughout the pandemic.

Now, several months into the crisis, USF FCU’s main branch on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida has reopened for regular business hours, while the New Tampa lobby is open by appointment only. 

A History Of Helping

From humble beginnings more than six decades ago, when it was founded in 1959 with just 16 members and total assets of $505, the USF FCU has grown to more than 60,000 members and $800 million in assets.

While it originally served only USF faculty and staff, today, current USF students and alumni are eligible to be members, along with employees of more than 40 affiliated companies that have business partnerships with USF. That list includes Tampa General Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, Darden Restaurants (the parent company to Bahama Breeze, Olive Garden, etc.) and more than 40 other companies, listed at USFFCU.com/eligibility.

The USF FCU offers personal banking services — from checking and savings accounts, to money market accounts and CDs (certificates of deposit), auto loans, home loans, personal loans and more. The credit union also offers business banking.

The difference between USF FCU and a typical bank, explains brand and promotions manager Bill Steiger, is the credit union’s focus on serving its members.

Online Banking

One way the USF FCU has kept both members and employees safe during the pandemic has been by education members about how to bank without leaving their homes.

Steiger says a new online banking platform was rolled out about 18 months ago. As of January 2020, about 58 percent of members who had a checking account with the credit union were using it.

That changed during quarantine and safer-at-home orders.

“We made tutorial videos to show people how to deposit a check with their phones,” Steiger says. “We did a promotional campaign and educated people on how to use digital banking, and saw success in getting people on board and using it.”

He says now, 97 percent of members who have a checking account use online banking to make deposits through their phones or to complete other transactions. 

“That has helped us to be able to continue to serve our members,” Steiger explains.

USF FCU also served front-line workers in the midst of the pandemic.

Between April 9 and May 5, USF FCU provided catered meals for a total of 950 front-line workers at Tampa General Hospital, AdventHealth Tampa and AdventHealth Covid-19 testing sites, plus other hospitals in the Tampa Bay area and the USF Police Department.

“It was our way of giving back,” Steiger says.

The credit union also served its members in the most flexible way possible.

Knowing that some members were furloughed or laid off from their jobs, USF FCU made hardship loans available with very low interest rates. Members also were offered a “skip-a-pay” option, which doesn’t reduce the amount owed, but extends the length of the loan. 

“That gives our members the ability to not have a car payment one month, for example,” says Steiger, “which is important if you’re furloughed and not getting a paycheck.”

Steiger adds that USF FCU also has been busy with home and auto refinance loans, which allow members to lower their monthly payments and save money during this time of great need.

PPP Loans, Too

Knowing that businesses were going to need assistance to navigate through the pandemic, USF FCU also made it a priority to help its business customers during these most difficult of times.

“We were one of the first credit unions in the area to offer Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans through the federal government’s Small Business Association,” Steiger says, “allowing us to manage the loans to small businesses and single-owner businesses.”

He says the credit union has provided 486 PPP loans — totaling $18 million — which are fully forgivable by the federal government, if all conditions are met.

Kelly Stuart Williams, owner of Pegasos Public Relations, has been a member of the USF FCU since 1990.

She says she had never previously considered using the credit union for her business banking needs until she received an email from USF FCU that shifted her thinking.

“They were very proactive in letting all their members know they were staying on top of the PPP loan program,” says Williams, who realized she wasn’t hearing that from any other bank. 

She says she reached out and opened a business account, and was able to be one of the first to fill out an early PPP application.

Unfortunately, like a lot of small businesses in our area, Williams’ initial PPP loan application was rejected. But, the credit union representative told her not to worry. They would help her get positioned for the second wave of loans.

“It was so different,” Williams says. “The other banks (she looked into) have a policy that if you’re not already a business banking customer, they’re not doing your banking loan.”

The second time around, Williams did receive a PPP loan from USF FCU, and she says she couldn’t be happier.

Now that she has qualified for and received her PPP funds, Williams is counting on USF FCU to keep her informed regarding the forms and processes to have the loan forgiven. 

“Sure enough,” she says, “they are way out front from anyone else I’m hearing from.” 

Steiger says that’s the goal.

“We were pleased to be able to offer that and really help those people keep their businesses going and their employees employed,” he says.

Sterling Award Winner

While serving its customers well may sound like a matter of opinion, there is at least one objective indicator that measures USF FCU’s effectiveness in its business practices. 

In June, the USF Federal Credit Union was honored with the Governor’s Sterling Award. 

This exclusive award goes to companies in Florida that are “high performing, role-model organizations, both private and public, who demonstrate superior management approaches and role model results.”

Fewer than 100 organizations in Florida have earned the award since the Florida Sterling Council was created by the state legislature in 1992.

USF FCU is only the second credit union to ever win the coveted honor.

Steiger says that USF FCU began working to put these best practices in place more than four years ago.

“Our organization was getting larger, so we wanted to be sure that our processes were constantly improving,” he explains. “The Sterling process is a very detailed and rigorous set of activities to show continuous improvement and performance excellence.”

This is the first year that USF FCU applied to have examiners evaluate their business, and Steiger says it was “truly a tremendous honor” to receive the Governor’s Sterling Award during this first attempt.

The New Tampa branch of the USF Federal Credit Union is located at 20610 BBD Blvd. The lobby is currently open by appointment only. The drive-through windows open at 8 a.m. weekdays, closing Mon.-Thurs. at 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m. on Friday. It also is open 9 a.m.–1 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit USFFCU.org or call (813) 569-2000.

High School Fall Sports Season To Be ‘Challenging’

At our press time, Freedom High was expected to open its 2020 football season on Sept. 11, hosting its New Tampa neighbor and archrival Wharton High, but the toughest opponent for both teams to combat that night likely wasn’t each other.

It was Covid-19.

And, that doesn’t just go for football. Avoiding the virus is arguably the biggest challenge facing teams across Hillsborough County (and the country), as high school athletes, their coaches and administrators try their best to remain socially distant and safe in what is certain to be the strangest prep sports season ever.

“It’s going to be very…what’s the word I’m looking for? Intensive,” says Wharton athletic director Eddie Henderson “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

The county is following all CDC guidelines for sports and also has issued its own 18-page guide, which covers everything from daily cleaning and sanitizing to quarantining and tracing those who become infected. The rules, which include the difficult-to-enforce ban on handshakes and high fives, seek to prevent a major outbreak of the virus.

Social distancing will be the key to keeping crowds at athletic events from spreading the virus.

One of the rules that will make football feel very different is that the bands and cheerleaders will not be permitted to travel to away games. That means that when the Wharton Social Distancers traveled to take on the Freedom Social Distancers, they had to leave behind some of their loudest and most ardent supporters, not to mention a group that is woven into the very fabric of the Friday night football experience.

The crowds will be smaller. A limited number of fans will be allowed into sporting events like football and volleyball this fall — players (and band members) are allowed to choose only four spectators, but they have to be registered on a list at least a day before each game, so they can be issued electronic tickets. Each player’s foursome will be a “spectator pod” and will be required to sit together.

Fans, who must wear masks in the stands, will find seats clearly marked off in groups of four, socially distant from other pods.

The biggest hurdle, however, will be keeping the athletes healthy. If an athlete tests positive, he/she and anyone in close contact with them will be quarantined for 14 days. That can wipe out any team’s roster in a hurry.

Football will be a huge challenge, due to the unavoidable closer quarters presented by bus transportation and the sheer number of players (often ranging anywhere from 50 to 80 or so) cramming into small locker rooms.

The football teams at Hillsborough and Jefferson high schools have already had infected players and, as a result, may not be able to play the first two weeks of the season.

“I’m holding my breath, and the reason is that, when we’re putting this many people together, you just don’t know,” Henderson says.

While football is the biggest concern, every sport will present its own set of issues. 

For example, cross country will have to stagger its starts to avoid large gatherings of runners from multiple schools. Volleyball players will be expected to avoid the traditional high-five after every point, and swim meets with multiple teams may be hard to find. In fact, Wharton’s usual “home” pool at the New Tampa YMCA is not permitting the Wildcats to host any meets there.

Provided that high school sports can make it all work under such unique and demanding circumstances, middle school sports will not begin until the second quarter, with track starting first on Oct. 12, followed by flag football and volleyball on Oct. 19.

“Everything is so uncertain,” Henderson says. “Are we gonna be able to push through or will there be a setback? I hope we can push through — I want to see the kids play. They have suffered enough the last six months with (the 2019-20 school year) getting cut short, and the makeshift way of doing school. I hope we push through.”

New Tampa Students, Teachers Get Back To School

Following a summer of indecision and fear of the unknown, New Tampa’s schools finally opened their doors to students for in-person learning for the first time since they closed in March due to Covid-19.

“Woo hoo!,” shouted one parent, as she drove off smiling after dropping her two kids off at Benito Middle School.

Students spent the first week of the 2020-21 school year eLearning only, as the fight over whether or not to open brick-and-mortar classrooms for students and teachers raged on. 

The Hillsborough School Board initially leaned towards doing eLearning only for the first nine weeks, before settling for four weeks after consulting a panel of medical experts. However, that decision was then overturned by Superintendent Addison Davis, after Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran threatened to withhold millions of dollars in funding to schools that did not offer a brick-and-mortar option for parents.

Busy at work cleaning and prepping their classrooms for a socially-distant learning experience, teachers finally opened the doors to their students on August 31.

After the first week, Chiles principal Teresa Evans said things went “remarkably well.” At Chiles, roughly 450 students were home learning online, while 400 or so learned in classrooms. Evans said none of her teachers were forced back into the classrooms, and praised their efforts in the opening week.

“I think we planned and planned and planned and what we planned has worked out so far,” Evans said. “The kids aren’t struggling with masks the way people thought. They have been very compliant, and the parents have been incredibly compliant and helpful in following the new rules.”

Those new rules include keeping desks as far apart from each other as possible, eating lunches outside under the school’s covered courts keeping everything as clean and sanitized as possible.

“We were nervous, but never terribly worried,” Evans says. “We were very careful and will continue to be, and we are tweaking things as we go.”

While the Covid-19 numbers were slightly rising in Hillsborough County during the first week, schools hadn’t reported any large outbreaks.

According to the school district’s Covid-19 dashboard, the first four days produced only 21 positive cases among students, and another nine from school staff.

The district is not reporting if any classrooms have been quarantined.

From March through July, the district reported 284 confirmed cases of Covid-19. 

In New Tampa, the only schools to report any cases were Freedom High and Tampa Palms Elementary, with each reporting one student positive from the first day of school.

Three ‘Little Libraries’ Opening In Wiregrass Ranch

Several local families were on hand on July 31 when owner/developer JD Porter of Wiregrass Ranch (2nd from left) cut the ribbon at the first of three Little Free Library openings in his community.

Wesley Chapel may not have its own Pasco County Library System branch at the moment — as the renovation project at the New River Library on S.R. 54 continues — but it could soon have three Little Free Libraries.

The Wiregrass Ranch Foundation recently unveiled the first two Little Free Libraries, which are small, birdhouse-looking book depositories that allow anyone to share and read free books. 

Porter was on hand to cut the ribbon at Wiregrass Ranch’s first Little Free Library ribbon cutting on July 31. It is located between the Glory Days Grill and Max’s Natural Pet Market on S.R. 54. A second location is near the Culver’s on the north side of S.R. 56, while a location for a third book-sharing box is still being determined.

“JD (Porter, who founded the foundation) and I were chatting one that we wanted to do something where the community can get involved, but doesn’t have to be together, due to Covid-19,” says Amanda Blackmon, who does marketing for the foundation. “We were looking for something new and creative, and JD said, ‘What about a Little Library?’”

When it opened, the S.R. 54 location had a selection of books ranging from To Kill a Mockingbird to some of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and even Good Morning, Moon. Users are encouraged to share their own books when taking one from the library. 

“It is definitely about sharing books and bringing the community together,” Blackmon says, adding that the Wiregrass Ranch Foundation is encouraging those who are reading the Little Library books to share pictures and their thoughts on social media on Instagram at @littlefreelibrary_wc and on Facebook. “We wanted to get the conversation started,” she says.

Porter even suggested leaving notes in the books when you are done reading them, to be discovered by the next person who takes the book.

“It’s our hope that this Little Free Library will bring a little more joy, a little more connection and a whole lot more books to our community,” Porter said.

The locations in Wiregrass Ranch will be one of more than 100,000 book-sharing boxes world-wide. 

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization and received the 2020 World Literacy Award for its dedication to expanding access to books. 

For more information, visit LittleFreeLibrary.org. For more info about the Wiregrass Ranch Foundation, visit WiregrassRanchFoundation.org. — JCC

Tie-Dyed Masks = More Toys For Kids At St. Joe’s

A group of kids in the Lakes of Northwood neighborhood sold more than 300 tie-dyed face coverings to raise money for St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital.

It’s the accessory everyone’s wearing this fall, and not because it’s the hottest new fashion.

Local ordinances throughout Florida have made face coverings mandatory, and some creative Wesley Chapel kids have found a way to turn people’s need for masks into an opportunity to do good.

In The Lakes at Northwood neighborhood, located just off County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., the Burnett, Caruso, Peretsky and White families have 10 kids between them, ages 5-13. They often play together outside.

When the pandemic hit, the kids started talking to each other about doing something helpful in their community.

“They wanted to be able to help other kids, in light of what was going on with Covid-19,” says Katie Burnett, who is mom to Jackson, Mackenzie and Alaina.

Katie says her kids – along with Diana, Ellina and David Peretsky, Mason, Kate and Troy Caruso and Josiah White — came up with the idea to raise money and donate it to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa.

They started with a lemonade stand. The idea grew when Katie and her husband Matt, who own Kona Ice Wesley Chapel, received a box of plain, white, reusable cloth masks to share with the community.

That’s when the kids decided to sell not only lemonade, but individually designed masks, too.

They took their revenue from that first lemonade stand and bought a tie-dye kit. Then, they got to work making fun summer art, using dozens of the masks as their canvases.

Their parents spread the word on social media, and then the kids took turns selling the masks on Saturdays in their neighborhood.

Late this summer, they tallied up their earnings and were able to make a $350 donation to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. Parent company BayCare Health System’s senior vice president & Hillsborough County market leader Kimberly Guy stopped by the neighborhood and the families presented her with an oversized check —  also made by the kids.

“They got really excited when Kim told them the money would be used to buy toys for kids at the hospital,” says Katie. “That helped make it real for them.”