2 institutions dedicated to community service

Sept. 9, 2008

Saundra Scales, left, and Nancy Stroud addressed the Forum today. One asked for your volunteer hours. The other asked just for the opportunity to make more of your money.

Scales, president and CEO of First Legacy Federal Credit Union, reviewed the thrift's deep roots in Charlotte's black community. J.E. Grigsby, principal of Second Ward High School, was not just the principal for some of the people in the room. In 1941, he was treasurer of the group that founded the thrift as School Workers Federal Credit Union.

Scales said Grigsby faced difficulty obtaining a car loan. A credit union owned by its black depositers would prevent others from a similar fate, she said he reasoned. Today, the credit union is a full-service financial institution with a main office in Charlotte and branches in Kannapolis, Salisbury and Statesville.

Nancy Stroud related how the Anita Stroud Foundation Afterschool Program has deep roots too. Anita Stroud, known as "Miss Neet," took in children after school in the Oaklawn/Fairview Homes neighborhood beginning in the 1940s. Again, there were some of Miss Neet's children in the Forum audience. Churches and companies later supported Anita Stroud's efforts, but they began with what she saved from wages as a domestic.

The afterschool program, Nancy Stroud said, now operates at the Ivory Baker Recreation Center at 1920 Stroud Park Court in the Park at Oaklawn neighborhood. The program needs volunteers to carry on Miss Neet's work, Stroud said.

For more information about the afterschool program, contact Nancy Stroud at 704-779-3047.

The First Legacy Federal Credit Union, 431 Beatties Ford Road, can be reached at 704-375-5781 or on the web at www.firstlegacyfcu.org.