We have all heard the stories of destruction from Hurricane Michael, the Category 4 hurricane which struck Florida on October 10th. It was the strongest storm on record in the Panhandle and the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the United States. More than 1 million people were left without electricity.
Most of our members at Community South Credit Union just witnessed the worst storm they will ever see in their lifetime. We are located about 50 miles off the coast in Chipley, Florida. We endured winds of over 100 miles per hour and trees were knocked down everywhere, destroying houses, cars, businesses and power lines. More than two weeks after the devastation, many residents were still without power or water.
Checking in on our members and their wellbeing was a priority for Community South Credit Union as soon as we were able to get back on our feet. We still did not have land lines, so we were using burner phones to make calls to those who were contacting us via email and social media. We wanted to reach out to more members, but we simply didn’t have the bandwidth to do so. We decided to work together with our partner LSI to see if we could convert the collections calls they normally do for us to “Welfare Calls."
LSI CEO Lee Kolquist was thrilled and wanted to get these calls started as soon as possible. Their first response to this idea was “Wow, this is what the credit union movement is all about.” Being a leader means making critical decisions in stressful situations, and the teams at Community South and LSI both exhibited amazing leadership and initiative during this crisis in our community.
Just imagine: you lost your house, you lost your car, you lost your job – and you’ve ultimately lost hope that you can ever have the means to live a normal life again. Then, your credit union calls with a friendly voice to provide guidance and assurance that they care about you and want to help in any way they can. That can be a life-changing moment for someone who has just gone through such devastation.
Community South Credit Union and LSI are not only making ‘Welfare Calls’ to members in need, we are deferring loan payments, waiving late fees and offering disaster loans of $1,000 at 5 percent interest; we still want to reach out and make sure our members are able to make ends meet.
We know our members and our community, and we know that connecting with them and providing a glimpse of hope can make all the difference.
