On October 23, 1979, a small group of ARP Mill Workers with the Vision of pooling their money in order to start an on-site Credit Union, met with State and Federal Officials to actually establish ARPAWCO Credit Union in December 1979. They would become the first Board of Directors - which consisted of Mr. James Dobson as President; Ms. Dell Walston as Vice President; Mr. F.D. Clark as Secretary/Treasurer; Mr. Eddie Lee Baggett and Mr. Wilder Jackson as Board Members offering only savings deposit accounts. A Supervisory Committee of 3 and a Credit Committee of 3 were also formed.
The Credit Union was chartered by the Alabama Credit Union Administration as a single sponsor credit union serving the employees of Alabama River Pulp and Woodland companies, therefore being named ARPAWCO Credit Union with $30,000 in beginning assets. The Credit Union operated under this name until July 1992 when an Amendment to our Bylaws was approved by the State of Alabama to change our name to Alabama River Employees Credit Union in order to encompass the potential members of all additional ARP companies that had been established since 1979. By this time we had grown to $4.5 million in assets and were offering savings, checking and small loans.
We were notified in August, 2010 that the ARP companies would be bought by Georgia Pacific and the credit union would have to make other arrangements to operate off mill site. At this time, we immediately began the process of changing our name to Alabama River Credit Union, changing our Bylaws, Policies and Field of Membership from Single Sponsor to a Geographical FOM allowing eligible membership to anyone that Lives, Works, Worships or goes to School in the following counties of Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Escambia and Wilcox.
Alabama River Credit Union relocated its office to the current location of 3365 S Al Ave Monroeville, Alabama in October 2011. At this time our credit union served 1400 members with $14.5 million in assets. Since our move to Monroeville, the Credit Union has grown the membership to over 2080 members with over $18.4 million in assets offering a wide range of new services including online banking, electronic statements, real-time debit cards and a variety of loan options.
Under the leadership of Sharon B. Downing, President/CEO, and her staff, we continue to serve our membership with Excellence everyday - celebrating our 40th year of service to our members in 2019.
We are a member owned financial institution that treats its members with respect and absolute concern for their needs while applying a personable touch. We take great pride in our goal – set forth to give “Our Members” the tools to be economically independent – by helping them learn ways to save and educating them to borrow “smart “ – with understanding about values and rates.
We are also focused on investing in our Youth within the school systems by educating them through a Financial Reality Fair which will be sponsored by Alabama River Credit Union.
