Southern Mississippi CUs Struggle To GetRestarted

JACKSON, Miss. - (09/03/05) The Mississippi CU League is reportingthat several credit unions in the hard-hit southern portion of thestate may actually be up and running today. “We are virtuallyin no contact with any of the credit unions on the coast,”MCUL CEO Charles Elliott told The Credit Union Journal. But rightafter making that report, Elliott took another phone call and thengot back on the line with The Credit Union Journal and ebullientlyannounced that several credit unions in the region were going totry to open. “The problem is, we can't get any money out ofthe Louisiana Fed,” he said, noting the MCUL are working withalternative cash sources. But the other problem is transporting it.“We may well have to stick it in trunks and drive it downthere.” What little news the league has had with regard tocredit unions hasn't been great. “Our former chairman losther home. All she has is the clothes on her back, and she's outsearching for food and water,” he related. “It's like abomb went off. We expect there has been severe damage.”Elliott said the generosity of the credit union movement has beenwonderful, but now the challenge is getting the resources that arestarting to come in distributed to the places that need them most.“I've got six satellite phones that are coming to my hometomorrow, and I suppose if I had a helicopter and I knew exactlywhere any of these people were, I could get them to them,” hecommented. Meantime, another issue has arisen. “I just spenta couple thousand dollars on a computer so I could work from homeinstead of driving in to the office,” he explained.“We've got power at the office again, and our IT guy sayseverything will be up and running shortly, but the lack of gas isgoing to be a real problem.”