JACKSON, Miss. - With the fate of some CU facilities on Hurricane Ike-battered Galveston, Texas still unknown, one credit union hit hard by Hurricane Katrina three years ago offers some HOPE among the rubble.
While a number of credit unions in the Gulf Coast region failed as many members simply never came back home after evacuating, or no longer had a home to which they could return post-hurricane, HOPE Community Credit Union saw its assets explode from about $4 million to more than $63-million since Katrina ripped through swaths of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The institution also more than doubled its membership since 2005.
CEO Bill Bynum credited the rapid expansion to the credit union's overarching vision and experience with economically depressed areas.
"We have, for nearly 15 years, been working in communities that suffer from economic distress and have a lot of experience providing services to that part of the population," he said. "After Katrina, we had an entire region that was suffering from distress and because of our experience we had the ability to go in quickly and provide some support as people were trying to navigate their recovery."
Uniquely Prepared
Given that background, Hope was "uniquely prepared" to fill in the gaps left by other relief efforts, Bynum maintained, which led to much more business for the credit union and critical services being made available for those who needed them.
"It's not unusual to see low income communities and other vulnerable populations (the elderly, the infirm or disabled) to be at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to accessing traditional financial services," he added.
HOPE provides direct competition to payday lenders and pawn shops in areas to which respected financial institutions pay little attention. Because most of its members have little money, the credit union is mostly supported by investors and philanthropists who make $50,000 and $100,000 deposits - which both earn interest and provide the credit union with enough capital to help the less fortunate.
"Our work is only possible with help from our depositors and our other partners. Ninety-five percent of our deposits come from 5% of our members," said Bynum. "Those deposits are vital and so we want to encourage people to join HOPE and support us by making deposits in our credit union."
Almost An Anniversary
Almost three years to the day after Katrina's strike, Hurricane Gustav made landfall in south-central Louisiana, which fortunately greatly spared New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss., which were so devastated by Katrina. But there are still areas that were heavily damaged by this year's storm and Bynum believes that there will not be a massive-scale relief effort across the nation the way there was for Katrina.
"I don't expect that there will be as large a relief effort by government or mainstream agencies. I think it will fall on local agencies like HOPE and our nonprofit partners to make sure that those who are most vulnerable aren't left behind," he said, but added that HOPE is ready to provide assistance.
"We have people down there that can quickly deploy services. Unfortunately this storm added insult to injury. We were slowly starting to see progress in low-income neighborhoods; unfortunately this storm slowed that down."
MORE
For information on the sources in the stories on this page:
* www.tcul.coop/
* www.tcuf.coop/
For other related reporting, visit www.cujournal.com and search:
* Free Disaster Recovery Assistance Offered In Hurricane Zone
* Hurricane Ike Disaster Funds at $60,000 and Rising
* Gulf Coast Credit Unions Reaching Out To Displaced Members & Employees
* Offering Some Different Views On 'Once-A-Century' Events
* In Texas, Wall Street Crisis Compounded By Damage From Hurricane Ike
* Long Recovery Ahead For Hurricane-Battered CUs
How To Make A Donation
To donate to TCUF's Disaster Relief Fund: Mail to 4455 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1100, Famers Branch, TX 75244-5998), or wire to Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union, ABA 311990511, Texas Credit Union Foundation, account # 311900048, reference: Disaster Relief funds.
Or go to www.cuaid.coop.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
