In the early 1950s the printer’s union of Guard Publishing negotiated with their employers to organize a credit union. Several printers had belonged to credit unions before and felt the employees of the R-G could benefit. And on Nov. 8, 1954, the Emerald Empire Federal Credit Union was organized with about 25 original members. The credit union had many obstacles to overcome in its first decade. There was no permanent office, no regular hours and a lack of capital. The hard working part-time treasurer literally ran the credit union out of his coat pocket. But the credit union grew, slowly but steadily, through nothing more than word of mouth. After some time, the wife of the treasurer set up regular office hours, and the newspaper allowed the credit union to have a desk in the basement behind the rolls of newsprint, as well as a closet in which to store the records. The credit union eventually rented a room at the paper for $65 a month. Then, in May 1976, after more than two decade in business, the credit union got its own official home, at 1065 High St., in a building across the street from The Register-Guard. We stayed there until February 1998, when we moved to the current Gateway office in conjunction with the newspaper’s move from downtown Eugene to Chad Drive. As of March 2015 we are proud to serve more than 2,400 members.