The Down East Seniors Club held its Feb. 15 meeting at the Blind Center of North Carolina in Washington. Vice President Chip Ide led the meeting. Charles Smith led the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and gave the invocation. Dick Paul provided humor.

Bill Cates introduced Wesley Jones, vice president and chief executive of the Washington branch of State Employees’ Credit Union. Jones said SECU was founded as a not-for-profit cooperative in 1937 and is now the second-largest credit union in the United States, exceeded in size only by Navy Federal Credit Union which operates nationwide. SECU is authorized to operate only in North Carolina. It has 256 branches; at least one is in each county. Total assets are approximately $34 billion. None of its directors are paid for their services. There are about 14,000 SECU members in Beaufort County. The local branch has 23 full-time employees working in a 6,000-square-foot building. Jones said the operation has outgrown the space in this building, so there are plans to replace it with a 10,000-square-foot building. In addition to standard banking products, SECU offers credit cards, insurance, trusts and tax return service. Currently all their mortgages charge adjustable-rate interest.

Charles Smith won the 50/50 drawing.