BATON ROUGE, La.–At least 20 credit unions were closed here yesterday and will be today as the result of flooding and heavy rains in Louisiana.
In response, the National Credit Union Foundation has activated the online disaster relief system CUAid.coop to raise money for credit union people in Louisiana affected by the flooding.
Credit union supporters in every state can make donations at cuaid.coop. CUAid is the only program of its kind that enables credit union employees, volunteers, and members, as well as credit unions and credit union organizations across the U.S., to contribute directly to support other credit union people, the Foundation said.
“Louisiana has been severely affected by the recent floods in our state and could use your help,” said Connie Major, EVP/CFO of the Louisiana Credit Union League. “It’s been called the ‘great flood of 2016’ and it came so fast that many credit union people didn’t have enough time to even consider evacuating. Aside from the numerous members affected, we’ve heard from credit union CEOs and staff who have lost everything. We cannot determine the full impact just yet as people are still being airlifted from their homes via helicopters.”
As donations are posted through CUAid.coop, the Foundation said it will coordinate with the Louisiana Credit Union Foundation in the disaster area to distribute money efficiently to affected credit union employees and members. One-hundred percent of the donations through CUAid goes to credit union disaster relief. In the event that all donations are not used for Louisiana flooding relief, the National Credit Union Foundation will transfer any and all unused funds to its "General Disaster Relief fund" for future disaster relief efforts.
Among the CUs reporting branch closures were Allied Plastics FCU, Ascension CU, Baton Rouge City Parish EFCU, Baton Rouge Fire Department FCU, Baton Rouge Telco FCU, Bayou FCU, BRECO FCU, Campus FCU, Eagle FCU, EFCU Financial, Essential FCU, Jefferson Financial, La Capitol, Lafayette Schools CU, LES FCU, Louisiana FCU, Maple FCU, Neighbor FCU, Pelican State CU, and Shell Geismar FCU.