With Fall upon us, I feel the changing of the seasons – from fewer hours of daylight and wearing a sweater on cooler mornings, to making plans to spend holidays with family and friends, often around a delicious meal. There’s a strong feeling of gratitude this time of year.

This month’s cover story describes SF Fire’s involvement with the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 Toy Program, which we’ve proudly supported for many years. I hope to see many of you alongside SF Fire staff when we are out volunteering this holiday season.

I’m pleased to share a few updates that improve the member experience with convenient banking tools and services. First off, we’re happy to provide a Direct Deposit feature where members can easily set up direct deposit with our online banking or mobile app without the need to fill out paperwork. Many employers/payroll providers are linked, though please note that updates to your direct deposit may take 1-2 pay cycles to reflect on your account.

Another new offering is an evergreen benefit through CU Travel, which is available to all our members. Exclusive Travel Perks include discounts on hotels, cruises and vacation packages, 5% back toward hotels on all your travel purchases through our platform when using your credit union debit or credit card, plus a price-match guarantee on 1.2 million properties worldwide. For more information visit:
sffirecu.org/cutravel.

I’m delighted to report that we were recently recognized at the Bank Customer Experience Summit, which celebrates ideas and innovation for a better banking experience. We received the Innovator of the Year Award for the remodel of our Stonestown branch. This award reflects achievements in integrating technology, hardware, design, people and processes infused to demonstrate next generation banking. If you haven’t stopped by the branch since its reopening earlier this year, we’ll hope you’ll come by and see us!

Thanks to all of you who participated in our recent summer promotions for tickets to the SF Giants Firefighter Appreciation game at Oracle Park and the Outside Lands festival at Golden Gate Park.

Our SF Giants Tailgate saw approximately 3,000 visitors, which included 400 firefighters and EMS heroes from multiple fire departments. A good time was had by all as attendees enjoyed good food, danced to the tracks of DJ Dre, and we distributed over 1,000 prizes, plus 100 custom fan videos through our 360-degree video platform.  We will be back again in 2025!

Our Outside Lands ticket giveaway promotion received more than 7,000 entries! We promoted this across all our SF Fire social channels and were especially encouraged to see strong engagement among Gen Z and Millennials.

In closing, I’d like to express my appreciation for all of you – our wonderful members – for your trust in giving us the privilege to serve you throughout the year. Best wishes as we close out 2024, and here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2025.

Kathy Duvall

President and CEO

Check out Kathy's message, and more in our October Siren Newsletter.