CU friends help Greater New Orleans FCU run again

NEW ORLEANS (10/24/05)--With a little help from its credit union friends and neighbors, Greater New Orleans FCU (GNO) is back in operation again.

After Hurricane Katrina and the city's levee break devastated the area, three of the credit union's four branches were inoperable. The midcity branch on Canal Street was under six feet of water. Its main offices had 1 1/2 feet of water that ruined furniture and carpet throughout, and its second floor had to be sealed off because of the mold on the furniture and walls.

Click for slide showEddie Vollenweider, vice president of information systems at Greater New Orleans FCU, points to sheet rock removed because of mold from the flooding of the credit union's office in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"We weren't able to come into the building for about two weeks," Eddie Vollenweider, vice president of information systems, told media during the Louisiana Credit Union League's media tour of the credit union's Metairie office.

The storm was hard on GNO FCU's employees as well, with some experiencing loss of family members. Several employees lost their homes. "There was so much tragedy and yet people would go to work. At the call center, they got calls from people in similar situations. People would ask, 'What's my balance?' then break down, and our employees would do grief counseling," said Vollenweider.

Enter the credit union movement. Neighbors FCU, a Baton Rouge-area credit union, offered GNO temporary work space, staff and dedicated phone lines to help get up and running. Neighbors put up GNO signage to make GNO's displaced staff feel at home. Employees of Neighbors even offered their homes to house GNO staff during the disaster. Neighbors FCU also helped GNO reestablish its Call Center just days after the storm.

The Louisiana Credit Union League donated funds to every employee at GNO. Fellow credit unions from around the country supplied furniture and financial resources to staff members who experienced losses.

Documents at the credit union were in wet, moldy boxes. GNO couldn't locate cardboard boxes to replace the containers. CUNA Marketing Council shipped boxes and supplies to enable GNO to recover damaged documents. "Sometimes it's the small things that you take for granted," said Mia Perez, director of marketing at GNO.

Wings Financial CU, Apple Valley, Minn., created an Employee Emergency Contact website to allow GNO to set up blogs to find missing employees.

Community Educators CU, Rockledge, Fla., provided GNO with a shared-branch server to establish communications so members could access their funds through the shared-branch network. Displaced members used CU Service Centers to close their loans and make withdrawals from their accounts.

"A lot of credit unions stepped up. More was offered than was really needed at the time," said Vollenweider, noting that no one realized the extent of the housing shortage as a result of the flood and storm.

Recently, GNO got the clearance to return to its main offices to assess damages and begin rebuilding. It is resuming operations in Mandeville and Metairie, via its drive-through.

"In the midst of so much uncertainty, one thing is for sure--the outpouring of support and generosity has been phenomenal," said Perez. "This is when you appreciate and understand the credit union spirit."

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Resource Links
Relief Effort and Support for CUs (R.E.S.C.U.)
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