Mill Town Credit Union will survive closing of Everett’s Kimberly-Clark mill

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Samantha Sunne

EVERETT – The Kimberly-Clark paper mill is shutting down this year, but its credit union is not. The mill’s closure will have few effects on Mill Town Credit Union, Chief Executive Officer Laura Leuze said.

One is that Mill Town might have to move off Kimberly-Clark’s property on the waterfront. But the institution itself is safe and sound.

“We’re really stable and in really good financial shape,” Leuze said. “We’re able to absorb a lot of losses because we have a lot of money set aside.”

Laura Leuze, Mill Town Credit Union CEO.

In fact, Mill Town Credit Union has the highest capital as a percentage of assets out of all similarly sized credit unions in the state. Capital is the amount of money a financial institution keeps in reserve, in case of hard times.

Mill Town’s high capital ratio means it has a lot of padding to protect it from losses, Linda Jekel said.

Jekel is the director of credit unions for the state Department of Financial Institutions, which regulates and examines state financial service providers. She said Mill Town’s income is lower than would be desired, but the credit union is not in danger because of its capital reserves.

Though Mill Town was originally chartered in 1939 to serve mill employees, its membership has expanded. Now anyone living or working in Snohomish, Skagit or Island counties can open an account.

The credit union provides a full range of services, including checking, savings and credit services. It offers consumer, but not business, loans.

“We never stopped lending when commercial banks stopped,” Leuze said.

Mill workers make up about a fifth of Mill Town’s membership. A few, Leuze said, have closed their accounts and moved away, but most have stayed. She said the credit union is working individually with members who are affected by the mill’s closure.

“We’re small, so we really give individual attention to everyone,” she said.

Financial reports show that Mill Town has grown over the past couple of years. Loans did decrease this year, but Jekel said that was not by an unusual amount.

“In this economic environment, a lot of people are not borrowing,” she said.

Bankrate, an independent rating service that analyzes those financial reports, rated Mill Town “sound.” It gave the credit union four stars out of five among credit unions of its size.

10 plants to liven up your winter garden

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Samantha Sunne

Click the photo to view a gallery of 10 plants that add color to your winter garden.

It’s tough keeping a garden attractive in the winter, with nature working against you, but Sandy Schumacher, of the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens in Everett, has some suggestions.

The key word is color. Several plants sprout flowers, berries and tinted leaves in winter. Others have unusually textured or colored bark, like the red twig dogwood, whose vibrant red branches easily stand out against ice or snow; or the paperbark maple, a tree whose light brown bark peels naturally off its trunk.

“Something like this, something a little different, always looks good in winter,” Schumacher said.

Gardeners should place certain attention-catchers like the paperbark maple in highly visible spots, perhaps just outside a window.

Keep in mind where you want your visitors’ eyes to be drawn, Schumacher said.

Another winter eye-catcher is the beautyberry. Dark purple berries dangle from this tree’s spindly white branches.

Like the paperbark maple, this is a tree that looks best when defoliated in winter, Schumacher said.

“This would be a beautiful thing to have visible from inside the house,” she said.

View a gallery of 10 plants that add color to a winter garden.

Even dead trees can be beautiful. Another unusual element Schumacher suggests is a stump or fallen tree, which can add a decorative touch without needing blossoms.

“Don’t throw your logs away,” Schumacher said.

She also advises gardeners to take a walk through nurseries or gardens such as the arboretum for ideas for winter plants.

“It pays to go through public gardens in winter,” she said.

The Evergreen Arboretum grows some plants specifically for winter such as a mahonia variety called Charity, which bears bright yellow bracts, or leaves, in December.

Another winter garden dazzler is a variety of heather, a short, bright red shrub, whose blooms last for several months. Different varieties of heather bloom in different seasons.

“They are out of this world in the winter because of that flaming color,” Schumacher said.

But winter color doesn’t just mean flashy. Evergreen perennials are also important, including hellebores and Japanese white pines.

“I never had an appreciation for evergreens until I came to the arboretum,” Schumacher said.

Some even develop new shades on their tips in the winter. Golden spreader Caucasian fir needles are accented by chartreuse, a shade of yellow-green that can add a bright shot of color to even the grayest of winter days.

Read the article on Heraldnet.com»

Edmonds group organizes mixers for the unemployed, underemployed

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Samantha Sunne

EDMONDS — Mark Howen has worked in a Redmond QFC’s meat-cutting department for 15 years. But recently he’s seen many coworkers laid off or forced to take pay cuts, and he’s worried his employer is trying to replace him with someone younger.

“They’re trying to replace me, and I see that, and I understand that,” he said. “So you gotta find something else.”

Last year Howen joined E-SOUP, an Edmonds-based networking group for the unemployed and underemployed. The group aims to help members find employment, or to help them expand their businesses if they are self-employed.

“For me, at least, it’s answered all the things I expected of it,” Howen said.

Howen, who lives in Bothell, uses the group to connect with other people looking for income sources besides their day jobs.

Michael Reis and Barb Lord at a meeting of E-SOUP, a gathering of unemployed and underemployed people, at Gallagher's Where U Brew in Edmonds. Michael O'Leary / The Herald

Michael Reis started the group two years ago when he was laid off. He got nothing but silence in response to more than 100 resumes he submitted, which he said is not unusual for mid-career people who find themselves out of work.

E-SOUP stands for Edmonds Social Outlet for the Underemployed Professional. Members share conversation and contact information at the group’s monthly meetings.

“Maybe you’re trying to get an informal interview with, I don’t know, Expeditors in Seattle,” Reis said. “Well, maybe somebody knows somebody in Expeditors. Heck, you might be sitting round a table with somebody whose dad is president of operations out there.”

Michele Powell, another member who lives in Bothell, has been in and out of work for the past couple of years. She said the group gave her several leads on new employment but hasn’t led to a job yet.

“I met some great people there and a lot of us have kept in touch,” Powell said. Networking “is a lifelong thing now.”

The group also includes the underemployed — people who are not making the wage they are accustomed to or used to make, Reis said. He counts himself in that category. He works out of his home in Edmonds as a business consultant but doesn’t work as much as he’d like.

“A lot of talented, middle-aged Americans are trying to reach that level of income they used to have,” Reis said.

Though E-SOUP went dormant for more than a year when Reis found employment, he and some other original members restarted the group this year.

The next networking session is Feb. 8 at Gallaghers’ Where U Brew, at 180 W. Dayton St. in Edmonds. Learn more on the Web at www.meetup.com/E-SOUP/.

Snohomish denturist among program’s small-business successes

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Samantha Sunne

Read the article on HeraldNet.com»

SNOHOMISH — Jeff Fjeld wanted to make dentures with a personal touch. As a denture technician, he didn’t get to meet patients or see the results of his work. So Fjeld earned a denturist’s license from Bates College in Tacoma and opened Daedalus Denture Concepts here.

“I really like my business,” Fjeld said. “I like what we do for people.”

Fjeld sought the help of his local SCORE counselor, Bill Parker, to get his business started.

Parker is one of nine counselors offering free advice for entrepreneurs in libraries and coffee shops across Snohomish County. They’re part of SCORE, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping people start and run small businesses. SCORE stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives.

Parker has regular hours at the Lynnwood and Bothell libraries. He also meets clients on appointment. People can sign up to meet with him at the libraries.

These one-hour counseling sessions usually consist of building business plans, discussing ideas’ viability and looking at funding options, Parker said.

“People come to us for an honest answer, an honest evaluation, and that’s what (we’re) trying to give them,” Parker said.

Fjeld said Parker’s counseling made him realize that his own estimations of cost and profit had been way off.

“Unfortunately, a denturist isn’t a run-of-the-mill business,” he said. “So we had some questions that he wasn’t quite sure on. But as far as the overall concept of a business, he was very informative.”

Parker said the problems of revenue, expenses, marketing and others are present in every venture.

“All these businesses are essentially the same,” he said. “Everybody’s got those same kinds of issues, no matter what service they produce.”

Larry Spelhaug, district director for SCORE, said the greater-Seattle chapter conducted 4,500 one-on-one sessions last year. The counselors are all volunteers, and many offer advice via email.

“We’re growing somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 percent a year in terms of new clients,” Spelhaug said of the chapter, which was started in 1966. “And that’s held fairly steady.”

Jeff Fjeld works on gum details in a set of dentures to make them look as natural a possible. Fjeld and his wife Renne own Daedalus Denture Concepts in Shohomish. Michael O'Leary / The Herald

SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The organization is able to offer free counseling through its government funding, as well as through sponsorships and profit from workshops and reference materials.

The chapter holds a few workshops every month for a fee, most of them in their office in downtown Seattle.

Parker said he has had hundreds of clients over the years, but he guessed only one in ten ended up starting a business.

“It’s the most work you’ll ever do,” he said. “And I think some of them get scared off.”

For Fjeld, people’s teeth were the family business. His father was also a denture technician, and his sister owns a crown and bridge lab.

“I kind of grew up in a dental office,” he said. “Just kind of grew into it and grew with it, and here I am.”

Parker said the sheer variety of businesses is the reason he volunteers as a counselor.

“It’s just absolutely amazing, the things people come up with,” he said. “I sometimes feel like a priest in a confessional. Boy, I’ve heard a lot of stories.”

Everett Hispanic bakery popular for its ‘conchas’ and weekly sales

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Samantha Sunne

EVERETT — In Los Gavilanes bakery in south Everett, a girl in pigtails and a red winter jacket holds up a grocery bag that’s stuffed with treats.

“More, more,” she murmurs to her mother in Spanish.

Her mom is holding another bag almost as full. It’s stuffed with conchas — rounded sweet breads that look like pink, yellow and white painted tortoise shells. In Spanish, “concha” means shell.

Conchas are probably the most popular item in the bakery, manager Felipe Hernandez said. Other favorites are empanadas, which are cream- and pineapple-filled breads, and niños envueltos, another kind of sweet bread with filling.

Gustavo Velazquez of Everett makes his pastry selections at Los Gavilanes, a popular Mexican bakery located in south Everett. Michael O'Leary / The Herald

But the key to the bakery’s local fame and popularity are Wednesday sales when all bread items are 30 percent off. Hernandez said he sells thousands of pieces of bread every Wednesday.

“It’s my way to (say) to my customers, ‘Thank you,’” Hernandez said. “Everyone knows about it.”

In fact, the weekly sale became so well-known, the business started to lose money. Some were buying hundreds of pieces of Los Gavilanes bread on Wednesdays and reselling it at a higher price. Hernandez had to stop them by capping sales at 25 items per family. He said that is a decent amount, because most families buy 15 to 20 pieces that day.

“Because (Wednesday), it’s a special day for the normal customer,” he said, speaking with pride of his customer loyalty.

Los Gavilanes is a bakery that occupies one corner of a store with the same name. The store offers items as diverse as candy, phone cards and toiletries. A full 40 percent of its sales, though, come from the bakery, Hernandez said.

Most of the items the bakery produces are sweet, Hernandez estimated. One feature is the tres leches cake.

As its name suggests, the cake is made with three kinds of milk: fresh, condensed and evaporated. The spongy cake is soaked in milk and then covered and decorated with it.

“It’s very, very sweet,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said he also tries to make his customers feel at home. If someone eats a piece of bread in the store without paying for it, he won’t charge for it. Like the Wednesday sales, that’s a practice that isn’t usual among bakeries, he said.

“I work in (a) different way than other stores,” he said. “And everyone likes it my way.”

Los Gavilanes bakery offers fresh-baked goods from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, but, Hernandez said, it’s often cleaned out by 8 or 9 p.m.

Los Gavilanes bakery and store
Where: 209 E. Casino Road, Everett
Phone: 425-355-5160
Hours: Daily, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.