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Show Thursday, November 8, 2007 A7 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition From humble beginnings Moroni Feed Credit Union is more than successful business—company has become important member of Sanpete community By Dave Green Staff writer LLOYD CALL / MESSENGER PHOTO Mary and Jim Yearsley stand outside their newly remodeled “Cow Camp Buffet” at 70 N. State St. in Mt. Pleasant. Dutch-oven catering business adds on with permanent location By Lloyd Call Associate publisher MT. PLEASANT—A sign saying “Welcome to our fire” will greet patrons of Cow Camp Buffet at 70 N. State St. in Mt. Pleasant. Jim and Mary Yearsley bought the restaurant formerly owned by Woody Lacrone in June and have been remodeling it to tie in with their successful catering business. Jim has a long history in the cattle business and has become a master Dutch oven cook. Cow Camp Catering was started in 2002, and features buffet and Dutch oven dishes like roast beef, barbecue spare ribs and turkey, chicken cordon bleu, roast beef and chicken. That business grew quickly. “We served two events in 2002, 12 in 2003, 44 in 2004, 52 in 2005, and 80 in 2006. We’re already up to more than 90 so far this year,” says Yearsley. “I grew up around campfires, and just wanted to share that with people,” says Yearsley. “Cattlemen would come in at all hours and really wanted some good warm food right then. That’s the model we capture at Cow Camp.” The restaurant is being remodeled along rustic lines, with three dining rooms with names like “Bullshippers Room,” and “Holding Pen.” Fruit and salad bars are featured in shiny sheep watering troughs decorated with cedar posts. Buffets will run from noon-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The Yearsley’s son Levi is manning the restaurant Monday, and the menu that night includes “Chicken plus,” meaning chicken plus whatever new item Levi is cooking up. Monday is also family night, $10 a plate. Prices are normally $12 for a two-meat dinner, or $11 for a one-meat dinner. Children (4-10) are half price. And don’t forget what Dutch ovens do to desserts. Berry and peach cobbler, chocolate raspberry, brownie sundaes and cheesecake await the palate to top off a full meal. They also offer takeout. Call 462-5275 to place orders. The front is getting new sidewalks this week, but after that, feel free to bring hearty appetites and come in for great meals, cow-camp style. Moroni Feed Credit Union (MFCU) is one of those homegrown businesses that had a humble beginning but then grew to become more than just a successful business. The financial institution has become an important member of the community, too. The credit union was organized with five members nearly 40 years ago, on Dec. 10, 1969, by local cooperative farmers and owners of Moroni Feed Co., to serve each other and the company’s employees. Operating part-time from a desk drawer in the company’s offices, the credit union originally offered only savings and loan products. The first credit union president, Mar Dye, was one of the credit union’s organizers. He was succeeded by Nedra Anderson and then Ilene Rollo, the current president. The credit union remained relatively small until building its current office on Main Street in 1994. Long-time Moroni resident Afton Anderson, a credit union member since the new office opened, vividly recalls the building’s construction. During that time, her now-deceased husband was wheelchair-bound and would regularly ask her to move him to the front window where he could watch progress on the construction across the road from their Main Street home. Anderson remembers how her husband would say they were going to go over there when the credit union opened. “So we did,” Anderson smiles. “We went over there.” When the new building opened, the credit union began expanding services to include checking accounts. Today, the credit union offers a full line of financial products including credit and debit cards, business and mortgage loans and more. “Until 1997, the credit union had a loan committee,” remembers Reed Christensen, the credit union’s chairman. “They would meet once a week and decide on the loans. When you applied, you waited until they met and decided if you were approved.” Today, most loans are approved within a matter of minutes. Soon, the credit union will begin operating its own ATMs in its branches. The machines will allow credit union members to make withdrawals and perform other transactions any time of day. Adding the service not only requires purchasing the machines themselves, but also upgrading the computer system to support the machines. “It costs a lot of money for the ATMs and to update the computer systems. The costs are outrageous—if it hadn’t been for the credit unions,” says credit union president Ilene Rollo. The ATMs were made possible, in part, because of grants and donations from the state’s largest credit unions. Credit unions in the state share a unique relationship that allows them to help one another. “Both America First and Mountain America credit unions have given to the League,” explains Lynn Keuhne, executive vice president of the Utah League of Credit ED WALLACE / MESSENGER PHOTO Teller Marisol Najera helps a customer at Moroni Feed Credit Union’s main branch in Moroni, while another customer waits at the drive-through (above) . (Right) Branch Manager Daniel Green, head teller Lacey Rosenlof, MFCU Vice President Dean Cox and Terrell’s Corporation President, Scott Hymas wait for Moroni Feed’s newest branch to open inside Terrell’s Market in Mt. Pleasant. Unions in Salt Lake City. “We have a committee that gets together and does a lot of computer upgrades for credit unions that couldn’t otherwise have them.” Keuhne says that last year, Mountain America donated a substantial sum of money on behalf of credit unions that lacked ATM machines. “We’ve picked about six or seven credit unions that didn’t have ATMs and got them hooked up,” Keuhne says. Moroni Feed Credit Union is one of those that benefited from the program. “Every branch will have an ATM within the next year,” says Ilene Rollo, credit union president. “If someone belongs to the credit union, they won’t have to pay a service fee” to use the machines. In addition, the ATMs at MFCU will allow members from other participating credit unions to do their business on MFCU’s machines. Besides new services, the credit union has expanded its number of operating offices. The credit union has a branch in Moroni, one in Ephraim and another in Gunnison, inside the Gunnison Market. It plans to open a new branch in Mt. Pleasant this December. The new offices have helped the credit union provide better service to its members. Daniel Green, loan officer, points to the addition of the Gunnison branch as an example. “They had a lot of people asking for us,” Green explains. “It’s the community asking.” Green says many of the credit union members who do business in Sanpete County come from the south end of the valley. Beyond that, some credit union members come from outside the area completely. Jed Miner has kept his Moroni Feed Credit Union account active even though he hasn’t lived in Sanpete County since he was a boy. He moved to Orem when he was six. “My family is from Fairview,” Miner explains. “I’ve been a credit union member for over 20 years.” Miner says he’s primarily kept a savings account with the credit union, but he also has an auto loan. He says that, above anything else, it’s the personalized service that keeps him coming back for more. “You get into Salt Lake and places like that, and even at your own bank they have to look you up on the computer,” Miner says. “It’s nice to go home to a hometown institution and be treated really well.” The growth in services and locations has resulted in an increase in credit union assets as well as members. When Rollo came to the credit union in 1998, assets totaled $13.5 million. Today, nearly 10 years later, credit union assets have almost tripled to $38 million. According to Utah League of Credit Unions’ Kuehne, that number ranks the Credit Union as number 37 out of the 110 credit unions in Utah. By comparison, America First Credit Union, the state’s largest credit union, has $4 billion in assets, and the second-ranked Mountain America Credit Union has $2.3 billion. Unique to Moroni Feed Credit Union is the community service it offers, says Rollo. Not that the credit union employees provide the service alone, she explains, but the institution acts as a conduit to allow its members and the community to offer service. “Every other year we have a quilt drive for Primary Children’s Medical Center,” says Rollo. “We have taken quilts and toys to Gunnison Hospital and Sanpete Valley Hospital to help the kids when they’re scared.” The credit union has collected coloring books and crayons and helped with sub for Santa, Shop with a Cop, and the food bank. It has provided financial education in the schools, and sends employees to read to the kids. “We try to be there for the community,” Rollo says. The credit union’s service doesn’t just benefit the community at large; the credit union offers service on a personal level as well. At 94, Afton Anderson still lives in her Moroni home across the street and two (See “MFCU” on A8) Computer store expands to include copy business Manti Baptist Church Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Manti City Complex Building Call 835-1724 You’re reading... The Sanpete Messenger Serving Sanpete County since 1893 EPHRAIM—Silver Creek Computers, a staple in Ephraim’s business community since 2001, has expanded its services to include a full-service copy center. Located in The Second Wife’s House, Silver Creek Computers and Copy Center now offers collating, binding, stapling, laminating, and design work in addition to black and white and colored copies. As many residents know, CopyQwest, owned by Ray Poulsen, was housed with Silver Creek for the last three years. Poulsen retired in September, and Silver Creek’s owner, Wayne Johnson, decided to pick up where Poulsen left off. “Having a copy center was a perfect fit with my current business,” Johnson said. “I saw a need for professional quality copies in Sanpete County and I decided to fill it.” The new copy center has state-of-the-art equipment including a full-color machine and a large format color printer. Customers will be able to print professional quality photographs 11 inches wide to 100 feet long, on many different types of media including canvas. This means that local businesses will be able to have in-store signs printed there. Though owned by Johnson, his daughter, Sarah Probasco, will run the copy center. In addition to copies, Probasco will be able to help design specialty Wayne Johnson (right) owner of Silver Creek Computers in Ephraim has started a copy business, which will be run by his daughter, Sarah Probasco (left). products such as business cards, seasonal cards, and calendars. “The idea behind this is that residents of Sanpete County won’t have to travel up north for professional work,” Johnson said. Having the copy center housed with Silver Creek Computers also means that customers can bring in documents on disc or thumb drives. And with a new website in the works, the copy center will soon be able to print documents emailed directly to the store. |
