Credit Unions Reopen in Fargo Flood Zone

Credit unions in Fargo, N.D., and its Minnesota neighbor across the flooded Red River in Moorhead learned a thing or two about coping with Mother Nature last week as nearly a dozen offices closed or relocated for several days with employees and volunteers joining in sandbag duty.“Out of 100 employees, I think we had 40 out of our 45 in our Fargo branches helping out with sandbagging,” said Patty Pretzer, vice president of marketing of the $200 million Town and Country CU. The CU closed three of its branches in the flood zone March 27, keeping open its West Fargo site with a skeleton crew.T&C, headquartered in Minot with eight branches statewide, said its Fargo offices were closed following evacuation orders from the mayor and law enforcement.Fargo VA FCU was forced to move into Freedom Community CU of Fargo for three days to escape the flood waters. On March 26, the CU moved some of it records from the basement of the VA Hospital where it is located up to the second floor to avoid potential water damage.Even as another snow storm was approaching, many Fargo CUs reopened briefly on March 30-31 to take care of end-of-month ACH and social security payments.“You know our members still need the cash to fight the floods so we decided to reopen our offices today,” said Gloria Schmunk, president/CEO of the $31 million United Savings CU. Two of its offices were closed for several days following Fargo and Moorhead evacuation orders of nonessential personnel.–[email protected]