A dramatic shot of the April 27 Alabama tornado across the street from a branch of the $520 million Listerhill CU was released Tuesday following the photo’s appearance on a teller’s Facebook page.
“The employees at our Cullman branch had just seen the storm coming and were safely out of the building headed for home when the photo was taken,” said a spokeswoman for Listerhill, which witnessed power outage at its Cullman facility but no damage or personal injury.
The photo was actually taken by a friend of a Listerhill teller who was in a nearby Walmart. The photo was later posted on Facebook.
A number of the Cullman tellers had seen the photo and thought it should go online, said the spokeswoman.
Separately, Listerhill CU’s CEO/president Brad Green outlined the CU’s participation in a local campaign it started called “Rebuild Alabama” to collect donations for victims in hard-hit communities across northern Alabama. Listerhill, based in Muscle Shoals, has 17 Northwest Alabama branches, of which only two were shut down during the storm at Cullman and Double Springs.
“There is not a single employee of Listerhill Credit Union who has not been touched in some way by the recent events in our state,” said Green in a release last week. “Several of our own branches have been out of service because of the storm and employees have been without electricity, water, and gasoline. Some even have family members who have lost everything.”
Apart from extending loan packages and waivers to victims, Listerhill has established a fund to benefit the American Red Cross of Northwest Alabama. Under the fund, Listerhill has committed to matching donations given up to $20,000.
As of Tuesday, $16,000 had been raised, said the CU.
