CU helps New Orleans family get a fresh start

WINSTON SALEM, N.C. (11/21/05)--Uprooted from their home in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, Roberta Brown and her family found themselves adrift in Greensboro, N.C.

But help from Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Truliant FCU put the family back on its feet, in a new community filled with support.

Brown worked as a communications dispatcher at Xavier University in New Orleans. Classified as "essential personnel," she couldn't leave during the hurricane, although her extended family--mother Estina, son Terrance, daughter Rheva Beaco and grandchildren Tierra and Terrance Jr.--took shelter at the university (North Carolina Headlines Nov. 18).

Four days later they were evacuated and stranded on an interstate overpass for 11 hours before finally making it to Baton Rouge. Brown's nephew, who lived in Greensboro, N.C., drove there to pick them up.

Roberta Brown, third from left, received a 1999 Ford Windstar van from Truliant FCU employees to help her get her family back on its feet in Greensboro, N.C., after being forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. (Photo provided by the North Carolina Credit Union League)
When they arrived in the Piedmont Triad, a "Care Team" of volunteers from Lutheran Family Services and Faith Action of Greensboro was waiting to help them and other evacuees.

"We expected there would be hundreds of families coming here at first, but the final numbers were much lower," said Nancy Davis, a Care Team volunteer and employee of Truliant FCU.

"It's one thing to watch it on TV, but being on the Care Team has helped me see much more clearly what's going on," she said.

The Browns have received housing, food, clothing and other necessities in the months that they have been in Greensboro.

But the family is getting back on its feet. They have rented a house. Brown now works with a local wireless phone company. Daughter Rheva is continuing her studies at North Carolina AT&T University. The grandchildren Tierra and Terrance Jr. are enrolled in public schools.

With no transportation because her car had been washed away in the storm, Brown found it difficult to take her mother to her medical appointments.

Instead of offering her a car loan, as Davis had requested, Truliant FCU went a step further and gave Brown a 1999 Ford Windstar minivan.

"Truliant wanted to do something to help the people whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina," said Tom Beck, executive vice president of support services for the $1.032 billion asset credit union. "Even a simple donation or act of kindness to one victim can go a long way in a tragedy like this."

That one act of kindness made a huge impact on the life of the Browns--allowing them to work, go to medical appointments and settle into a routine in their new lives.

"I never dreamed something like this was going to happen," Brown said.

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