MADISON, Wis.–The National Credit Union Foundation reported it has now paid out $22,000 from funds collected to help the victims of wildfires in California and the Northwest.
The funds, collected by its CUAid program (cuaid.coop) have gone to credit union staff and members, and the California and Nevada CU Leagues and the Northwest CU Association have also been involved in the effort.
In California, two credit unions where members and staff were also affected have also been involved: Mendo Lake Credit Union and Redwood Credit Union.
“The need for relief was evident as many staff and members were affected, but not enough to open up a widespread campaign to raise potentially a few hundred thousand dollars,” the National CU Foundation reported on its blog. “Thankfully, we have some funds in our general disaster relief fund since the Foundation transfers any and all unused funds from previous campaigns to its General Disaster Relief fund for future disaster relief efforts (for cases like this).”
The Foundation said that for the past few weeks it has been processing disaster relief grant applications for the two credit unions, with most coming from Mendo Lake Credit Union.
To date $22,000 in aid has gone to credit union members and even staff. More applications are expected, said the Foundation, which continues to accept donations.