Osoyoos Credit Union (OCU) is excited to announce the opening of their second location in October 2019. It will be the credit union’s first-ever expansion.
The credit union’s second location will be in Rock Creek, B.C. OCU will fill a longstanding need of the Rock Creek community, as it has been 90 years since the town has had such financial services of their own.
This second OCU location will conveniently include an ATM and, although specific hours for this branch have yet to be determined, OCU CEO Greg Sol has confirmed that the organization is looking at staffing the branch three days a week.
Rock Creek’s First Credit Union
OCU’s second location will operate at the Riverside Centre along with three other tenants: The Boundary Area of The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB), the Boundary Invasive Species Society, and Trails to the Boundary Society.
“ It’s morphed into even more than I could ever have fathomed... The vision is for a shared space — a shared office — that is open and available to non-profits or others that otherwise wouldn’t have access to that kind of space.” — Greg Sol, CEO of OCU
The centre is currently under construction, but completion is anticipated for late August of this year. The 4-acres of land on which the centre is being built was purchased by OCU and the Rock Creek Farmer’s Institute, and funded by the West Boundary Community Services Co-operative Association (WBCSCA).
The association was incorporated recently but had been in the works for almost a year. After ten months of planning and community consultation, WBCSCA was incorporated on February 2019 and has already garnered support and funding from ‘the Cooperators’ Co-op Development Fund, the RDKB and the Vancouver Foundation. Additionally, funding is in place for an Executive Director/Economic Development Manager for the co-op association.
Sol, a proud member of the co-op, stated that he is excited about the development of Riverside Centre as it’s a way to engage the Rock Creek community as a whole and go back to its’ co-operative roots.
The centre aims to assist the community by filling the need for local non-profit organizers and itinerant regional business owners who have been requesting rental spaces for meetings and temporary workspaces. For an on-site fee, non-profits and businesses can rent the board room for meetings. Additionally, there will also be a large gathering room for local artists, seniors and other groups to use for heritage projects, personal and professional projects, and group meetings.
Other features of the Riverside Centre include high-speed fibre optic Wi-Fi (available to both travellers and locals), an electric vehicle charging station, and a planned retail outlet.
OCU’s original location in the City of Osoyoos will continue to run business as usual.
Connect with the OCU team if you have any questions about the expansion.
