Sometimes life has a funny way of proving you right. For Kilee Arnold, insisting on a storm shelter wasn’t just cautious thinking—it was basically survival instinct earned the hard way.
The Shawnee resident and her husband Briceton just won Tinker Federal Credit Union’s 2026 Storm Shelter Loan Payoff Sweepstakes, which wiped out their remaining $2,157 loan balance in one swift, incredibly satisfying move. But the backstory here is what really gets you.
Picture this: You buy your first house, you’re excited, you’re planning where the couch goes—and then exactly one month later, a tornado decides to demo your back wall for free. No, really.
“We hadn’t even made the first payment on the house yet,” Briceton explained. “The tornado came through and ripped the whole back side of our house off.”
If that wasn’t enough to convince anyone that Oklahoma weather means business, Kilee had already lived through the 2013 Moore tornado while taking shelter at Highland East Junior High School. So when they started rebuilding, the conversation about getting a storm shelter wasn’t really a debate.
“I feel like tornadoes follow me,” Kilee said with what we can only imagine is the kind of resigned humor you develop after multiple close calls. “So, I insisted we get a storm shelter.”
Smart call, honestly.
The couple financed their shelter through TFCU’s storm shelter loan program—a product specifically designed to help members get protected before the next storm season rolls around. Briceton, who’s been a TFCU member for years, said the whole process from approval to installation went smoothly. And now with the loan paid off? That’s real money back in their budget every month, which matters even more for their growing family.
TFCU offers these storm shelter loans as part of their broader mission as a not-for-profit credit union. It’s one of those things that might not sound flashy, but when severe weather is bearing down on your neighborhood, having an actual safe place to go is worth every penny.
TFCU Brings Free Credit Workshop to Oklahoma Teens (Snow Cones Included)
Here’s a sentence you don’t hear often enough: teenagers voluntarily spending their Saturday learning about credit scores. But that’s exactly what happened when Tinker Federal Credit Union hosted “Credit Uncovered: The Story Behind the Score” on July 18 at the Metro Tech District Center Auditorium in Oklahoma City.
The free workshop brought teens and their parents together to crack open one of adulting’s most mysterious subjects—how credit actually works, how you build it, and how the financial choices you make at sixteen can either help or haunt you at twenty-six.
Through hands-on activities and real-world scenarios (because let’s be honest, nobody learns this stuff from a PowerPoint alone), families explored how everyday decisions shape future opportunities. Want to buy a car someday? Rent an apartment? Get approved for literally anything that requires a background check? Yeah, your credit score is along for that ride.
Teens could even open accounts on-site, turning the whole thing into more than just theory.
Jessica Kopacka, who brought her teen to the event, didn’t hold back her enthusiasm. “Financial responsibility needs to be taught, and the earlier it is, the better off a person will be as an adult,” she said. “It was a great class, and I highly recommend it to other families. We will be back.”
The workshop also featured the important stuff: free snow cones, goodie bags, and door prizes including four $100 gift cards. Because positive reinforcement never hurts when you’re learning about APRs and credit utilization ratios.
TFCU staff hung around throughout the event to answer questions and offer support, creating what Emily Loughridge, TFCU’s community engagement coordinator, described as a “safe, trusted environment where teens, parents and guardians could come together to ask questions and build a better understanding of how the financial decisions they make today can shape their future.”
Credit Uncovered is just one piece of TFCU’s ongoing commitment to financial education across Oklahoma. The credit union plans to host more workshops throughout the year, all focused on giving teens and families the knowledge and confidence to make smarter money moves—preferably before they’re drowning in student loans and wondering why nobody explained compound interest earlier.
Future events in the series will continue tackling the financial topics that actually matter, minus the jargon and intimidation factor. Which honestly sounds like the kind of Saturday well spent.