Relief Efforts Underway in Florida & Much More Support Is Needed
Some CU families are living out of their cars as temporary housing becomes a critical need.
Now more than ever donations are needed to help Florida’s credit unions, their employees and members get back on their feet to regain some type of normalcy amid the massive devastation left behind by Hurricane Michael.
The need for temporary housing has become acute as leaders of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions learned Friday morning that the families of at least two credit union employees have been living out of their cars.
“We had a debriefing from folks that were there yesterday and we’re continuing to hear a lot about the need for housing,” LSCU President/CEO Patrick LaPine said. LSCU has posted a resource on its site for those looking for available properties to rent at their own expense in the Panama City Beach area.
In addition, people also need transportation, food and many other essentials such as flashlights, batteries, fuel, generators, power cords, tarps, pre-paid phones with hot spots, diapers and wipes. What is making matters even worse is that some people don’t have jobs because their employers’ work sites were damaged or destroyed. Nearly 36,000 businesses across 11 Florida counties have been impacted by the hurricane, according the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The league’s foundation is accepting contributions to help those in need at this PayPal site or at the the LSCU disaster relief site. The National Credit Union Foundation has opened CUAid to receive disaster relief funds to assist credit union people affected by Hurricane Michael. Credit union supporters in every state can make donations through cuaid.coop.
“As LSCU Hurricane Michael recovery efforts continue, the focus is beginning to slowly shift from assessing damage/restoring power to getting credit union branches back up and running as normal as they can,” LaPine said. “Additionally, assessing and meeting the personal needs of credit union staff and volunteers is becoming a high priority.’
Last weekend, and almost every day this week, including today, LSCU and credit union teams have been delivering all types of supplies. Juli Lewis, director of the Southeastern Credit Union Foundation is working in Panama City meeting with the impacted credit unions and their teams to provide grant applications and support for those credit union staff and volunteers who have been hit hard.
“Each morning starts with us holding an internal meeting in our Tallahassee office Hurricane Michael “War Room” to review any outstanding requests from CUs, as well as plan the day ahead,” LaPine said. “We then move to the conference call for our Southeast Disaster Coordinating Council, which is made up of representatives from NCUA, ACUA, CO-OP Financial Services, Corporate One FCU, Corporate America CU, CUNA, CUNA Mutual Group, CU Service Centers of Alabama, the Foundation, PSCU, Shared Services for Credit Unions, and the SECUF.”
Pen Air FCU, Suncoast CU, America First FCU and the Southeastern Credit Union Foundations are deploying their mobile branches.
“I think every credit union almost has at least one branch down and it could be where the branch is not able to open because of the damages,” LaPine said. “And that’s where the mobile branches come into play.”
Credit unions are also working to repair branches to reopen soon while a few other branches that suffered heavy damages probably won’t open for months. Because there is a lot of crime in some areas, however, branches will open only if there is security provided by local police or National Guard troops.
So far, credit unions that have been in contact with LSCU and are receiving assistance include Panama City-based Bay CU, Innovations FCU, Panhandle Educators FCU and Tyndall FCU and other impacted credit unions throughout the region include Calhoun-Liberty Employees CU, Community South CU, Emerald Coast FCU, and Jackson County Teachers CU.
In addition to Pen Air FCU, Suncoast CU, America First FCU, other credit unions that have been providing supplies and support include VyStar CU, Tallahassee-Leon FCU and Gulf Winds FCU.
Because the hurricane aftermath will create financial hardships for staff and members, credit unions have already offering unsecured hurricane assistance loans to their members, waiving any late, NSF and ATM fees and deferring payments for up to 90 days.
“The next shoe to fall maybe in a month is that we’re going to start seeing missed payments on loans as well as some defaults,” LaPine said. “We are also working with state and federal regulators on arranging a webinar to discuss what to expect from a default/delinquency standpoint as well as what examiners will be looking for in the months (and possibly years) to come. We are also working to get some best practices shared around collections in the aftermath of natural disasters.”