The Unity of Eatonville FCU was the vision of a local community Pastor Willie C Barnes of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. As a Community Leader, he’s committed to developing the total person in every aspect of life. One of his focuses was to give visible evidence of the manifestation of God’s Spirit in action aiding mankind. Under his progressive visionary leadership, he wanted to fulfill his purpose by using innovative and resourceful means to glorify God and edify humanity.

In keeping with that goal, Pastor Barnes began exploring different avenues to further show how mankind can help one another by meeting the needs of the people. While he was exploring the different avenues of potential assistance, he quickly recognized the challenges that stagnate and devastate many American low-income communities like Eatonville.

So, he formed a Task Force to explore the feasibility of establishing a credit union. This Task Force sought out assistance, guidance, and its Federal Charter from the NCUA (National Credit Union Administration). The Task Force conducted a survey among the Church membership and the local community of Eatonville. The survey was used to identify the needs of the potential membership as it relates to forming a financial institution, and their readiness to support the endeavor. They discovered that this need was great, and the support was overwhelming. This prompted the Pastor, and the leadership of the Church to pursue the formulating of a credit union.

This Task Force that would later become the eventual Board of Directors was given instructions to pursue full speed ahead with the chartering process. The Church would provide the space, the funding to facilitate housing and supporting the credit union. Through the tireless efforts of this Task Force and God’s Blessing, the Credit Union was formed, and received its Federal Charter from the NCUA and became known as the “Unity of Eatonville Federal Credit Union!