“Pray for us.” That was a statement shared with CUTimes via email from WOCCU officials who have been in contactwith one Puerto Rican credit union CEO.

In an email exchange with Victor Miguel Corro, WOCCU's vicepresident of member services, he shared a correspondence with LuisLopez, CEO of Abraham Rosa Cooperativa in Toa Baja, Puerto Ricowhich is roughly 10 miles west of San Juan.

Since Hurricane Maria struck the island a week ago, communication has been extremely difficultsince the entire electricity grid and communications infrastructurewas destroyed. WOCCU, CUNA, NCUA and other credit unionorganizations have had very little luck getting in touch withcredit union officials on the island. Only until now have westarted to learn some of the details of the destruction.

In the email exchange, Lopez gave many disturbing accounts ofthe day-to-day operations of the credit union since Hurricane Mariapassed over the island. The following are bullet points takendirectly from the email shared with CU Times:

• Several Credit Unions have been operating very limitedhours, typically 8.30-12.00
• Abraham Rosa CU, for example, is handing $200/perday/member so they can take care of needs.
• Most CUs have no cash now. Hard for staff to get to themand lots of staff had losses in their homes.
• No ATMs are working, so no credit card/debit cardtransactions are going through
• He may be able to just open through tomorrow asthey are running low on diesel fuel. Diesel is used to fire up theelectricity generator for his branch, but gas/diesel is in verylimited supply.
• There are no armored trucks to carry cash either andphysical security is not guaranteed.
• There is no on-line ACH transactions. The only way they areclearing is through Banco Cooperativo, which is linked to the Fedand banking system. Luis' employees take a USB drive and physicallygo to Banco Cooperativo for the clearing. It takes 2 hours to dothis, so all clearing is behind by at least one day.
• Banks and other financial institutions are going throughthe same.
• There is a curfew from 9-6, so people basically sleep inthe line they may happen to be (water, ice, gas).
• It's desperate and it feels like it's never going to getback to normal. He said, pray for us.

According to Corro, WOCCU is now coordinating relief effortswith the National Credit Union Foundation and the New York CreditUnion Association.

CUNA Mutual Group, which has had four disaster response teammembers in Puerto Rico since Saturday, said they have accounted forall of their 12 employees based in San Juan.

“We are relieved to be able to say that we have been able tosuccessfully account for and make contact with all 12 of ouremployees,” Beth Cutler, community relations and foundation leaderfor CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wis., said. “We know that theyare safe. We're obviously dealing with a long road to recovery, butour employees are all accounted for.”

Cutler said CMG's disaster response team determined employeesare in need of critical emergency supplies such as satellitephones, solar chargers, ready-to-eat emergency meals, drinking water filtration systems, first aid kits, flashlights andbatteries. Cutler said those supplies will be flown to PuertoRico.

To assist CMG's credit union customers, she also said additionaldisaster response team members are expected to travel to the islandas soon as they can secure flights.

“As with many people we are trying to keep on top of thissituation,” she said. “As communications start to improve,especially now since we will get satellite phones into all ofour employees' hands, we will continue to be on the ready to makesure we are assessing the needs moving forward. Like many otherpeople we don't have a lot of specifics, but we will continue topay attention to that to see what's next.”

CMG said it will match every dollar that is donated by theiremployees for a total of up to a maximum of $500,000. Those fundswill be used for immediate recovery efforts.

“CUNA Mutual Group is resolved to be there not only today but inthe months to come as recovery efforts are identified,” Cutlersaid.

According to an email update from B. Dan Berger, NAFCU'spresident/CEO, he stated, “We reached out to members (andnonmembers) but there is little to no cell, internet orelectricity. No running water is also a problem.”

Late on Tuesday, the NCUA released a statement that said, “AsPuerto Rico and the Virgin Islands work to recover from thedestruction of Hurricane Maria, the National Credit UnionAdministration has resources available to help credit unionsaffected by the storm.”

The NCUA has eight federally chartered credit unions inPuerto Rico and five in the Virgin Islands. “NCUA examiners havebeen working to stay in contact with those credit unions, determinetheir status, and offer assistance as-needed,” the statementread.

The NCUA's Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives canprovide urgentneeds grants of up to $7,500 to low-income credit unionsthat experience sudden costs to restore operations interrupted bythe storm.

According to sources contacted by CU Times, few ifany credit unions have been able to apply for grants or funds dueto the lack of electricty on the island.