GREENVILLE, S.C.–Turbine FCU here has received an award of $5,000 from the Carolinas CU Foundation to help it recover from a roof collapse at the GE Aviation plant here where one of its branches was located.
According to Turbine Federal, one-third of the GE plant was affected by the roof collapse and subsequent flooding, giving the $25-million CU and its members limited access to the facility.
According to the credit union, it opened the branch in July of 2015 to serve an area in dire need of affordable financial services. The branch is located in an area certified for CFFIs and where there are only four other FIs.
According to TFCU’s Kerri Smith, the main office of Turbine FCU is located in another GE facility and prior to the damage at the Aviation plant plans were in motion to move main office operations to the Aviation location during a mandatory closure in the first week of July 2015. When the roof of the GE Aviation plant collapsed in June, just weeks before the office transition, “Turbine management went to work to find a temporary location for its operations. Carolina Foothills Federal Credit Union kindly gave Turbine a teller station and two cubicles in its call center for the week.”
The roof collapse left the credit union with more than $30,000 in unbudgeted expenses for repairs. The grant from the Carolinas CU Foundation is designed to help close the gap.
Plans call for the facility to re-open in February.