By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
Sister Pamela Buganski was not present for the Thursday, July 16, ceremony which was the renaming of the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union Dorr Street location to The LaValley Branch.
Sister Pam is, unfortunately, not with us anymore but her memory certainly lives on. Sister Pam was the person who brought Toledo Urban FCU CEO Suzette Cowell, ThD, and Dick LaValley together and helped forge a friendship, a mentorship, a partnership that led to the LaValley Foundation’s donation to the credit union the funds to construct the current building at the intersection of Dorr and Detroit.
Sister Pam, the longtime treasurer of the Sisters of Notre Dame, was committed to pursuing socially responsible investments. She passed away in 2020 but certainly was able to feel a sense of accomplishment in what she had started with that introduction nine years earlier.
That introduction and subsequent partnership enabled the credit union in December 2015 to move out of the cramped space in a nearby shopping mall into the free-standing building which has since become a valued part of the Junction/Englewood community.
“You have changed a whole community,” Cowell said to LaValley during the renaming ceremony. “You put pride back in this community; you put hope back in this community.”
On January 11, 2011, Sister Pam picked up Cowell and drove her to LaValley’s office with the hope of securing a donation from the LaValley family fund, a fund that has been generously donating to area non-profits for years. Sister Pam and Cowell were seeking a donation in the amount of perhaps $10,000. LaValley, however, was looking to make a substantial donation in the central city. That, of course, would turn out to be the credit union Dorr Street building, now The LaValley Branch.
“You changed everything,” said Cowell about the impact on the community. “We have extended $11 million in loans to the community since then. This was for the community.”
Dick LaValley and the LaValley family’s contribution to the credit union and the community was also commemorated by a number of elected officials on Thursday.
State Rep. Elgin Rogers, Jr. brought greetings and a proclamation from the Ohio House of Representatives to celebrate the efforts of the LaValley family.
“When we invest in people, it takes vision, it takes people who care; there’s more to this credit union than just serving people, it’s a legacy of love,” Rogers said before reading the proclamation.
The Ohio Senate also sent a similar proclamation commemorating the LaValley family for “working to remove the barriers.” The Senate provided a “testament to the respect [the LaValley family} has earned across the state.”
Lucas County Commissioner Anita Lopez praised Dick LaValley for doing more than just giving money, she commended him for establishing a “mentorship/tutorship relationship with Suzette.”
City Councilman John Hobbs, III, came with the Council proclamation. Hobbs expressed his appreciation for the direct action that the LaValley family had taken in the matter of the credit union. “You need more than prayer, you need action to go with that prayer … this family has been that action.”
The LaValley name is now on the side of the building facing Dorr Street – highly visible to drivers and passengers on the busy Dorr and Detroit streets.