ATLANTA – Even though Hurricane Rita's winds and rains damaged property and scattered residents, the wake of the storm has brought shared branching to the Beaumont, Texas area, according to the Credit Union Service Corporation, the shared branching network headquartered in Atlanta. CUSC said that the $236 million Mobiloil FCU joined the network as the storm bore down on the Beaumont area and that participation in the network was vital during the storm's aftermath. “Although we set up emergency procedures to assist incoming Katrina victims, such as check cashing and donation collection, we found that shared branching was the only reliable solution to continue serving our own members if we were ever hit by a hurricane or other natural disaster, ” said Chris McDonald, CEO of Mobiloil. “ By joining through CUSC, we were able to take advantage of the flexibility offered by the Next Generation Network and go live in a remarkably short time frame.” Mobiloil is the first CU in the Beaumont area to participate in shared branching, CUSC said. Since the area has recovered from the storm, the CU reported that shared branching has helped make its members' lives easier and helped it retain members who were moving out of the area.