It all started 80 years ago.

Yes, once upon a time (back in 1944), what you now know as CommonWealth One was the Army Air Force Annex #1 Credit Union. Our first "branch" was at Gravelly Point along the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and the credit union initially served just 94 members with an all-volunteer staff.

My, how things have changed! In the past 80 years, we’ve grown in a lot of different ways — not just in the number of members we have (now almost 40,000), but also in the services we provide and in the ways we give back to the community. Here are just a few milestones from our past 80 years:

• We now have multiple branches across the greater Alexandria and Harrisonburg branches, serving close to 40,000 members from all walks of life.
• You, our members, have more than $550 million in combined assets!
• There certainly was no online or mobile banking in the 1940s, and there weren’t any credit cards, debit cards or even ATMs! (Can you imagine going back in time to 1944 and trying to explain mobile banking to one of our volunteer staff members?)

But what we’re most proud of, really, as we look back on 80 years, is the way we’ve evolved to serve our members and the larger community. This year (and every year), we focus on giving back to our community. Our efforts include food drives, school supply drives, volunteer hours and even scholarships for deserving students.

In addition, we’ve embraced the larger credit union movement focused on financial education. One of the cornerstones of our promise to be there for you, for life, is to help you understand the increasingly complex world of personal finances. We believe knowledge is power, and we’re proud to be empowering you to manage your money in a smart and responsible way through a variety of educational tools you can find on our website and beyond.

Thanks for being with us today as we celebrate 80 years of serving our members. We’re looking forward to another 80 years of being here For You (and your children and grandchildren) For Life.