Credit unions nationwide are helping Federal Employees Credit Union, the institution ravaged by the Oklahoma City bombing last month.
"Credit unions are a pretty tight-knit group," said William Rissell, chief executive of Fort Knox (Ky.) Federal Credit Union, which has sent six people to help Federal Employees. "It was almost a knee-jerk reaction."
Housed on the third floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, directly above the street where a truck bomb exploded April 19, the credit union's offices were annihilated. Three of the credit union's 33 employees were confirmed dead; 15 were listed as missing; and five were hospitalized with serious injuries.
But the staff, led by chief executive Florence Rogers, didn't pause to lick their wounds. They met that night to discuss reopening the $75 million-asset institution.
Helped by the National Credit Union Administration and other credit unions, Federal Employees had a branch up and running within 48 hours of the catastrophe.
The credit union set up shop in Tinker Federal Credit Union's operations center, said Matthew Stratton, spokesman for the $852 million-asset institution. Federal Employees transformed a teller training room, with actual stations, into the real thing.
In June, Federal Employees will occupy a branch recently vacated by Tinker until the devastated credit union can find a permanent new home, Mr. Stratton said.
Help came pouring in from outside Oklahoma as well, with credit unions, trade associations, and other organizations contributing money.
Oklahoma credit unions and the Oklahoma Credit Union League are sponsoring a memorial service May 13 for employees and members of Federal Employees who were killed in the blast.
