I found Paul Gentile's Aug. 30 column on the future of small credit unions to be very much on target. There is one additional thought I would like to throw out.

Small or large is really a relative term. My credit union with $13 million in assets recently helped a small $2 million dollar credit union when they found themselves with no CEO suddenly. Since we knew the software system, we were there within minutes of their call for help. Another credit union with over $100 million in assets also helped them during this crisis time. So even big and "little" credit unions can work side by side to help even smaller credit unions continue to grow especially for their members. No credit union should think they are too small to help someone else. This all happened over four months ago and we are still helping this credit union and at no cost to them, of course. And why not? Frankly, I don't know any other way. When I became a teller at a credit union in 1982, I came from a banking environment. I was taught right off the bat that credit unions help people. And that may be another credit union as well. Here is an example: If an examiner came to our credit union and was asking for a particular policy, our CEO would call a smaller credit union and ask them if they had this policy. If not, our CEO would offer to send them our policy or help them write theirs. That credit union really appreciated our CEO's concern for their well-being. So I learned very quickly that this is how credit unions operate which is quite different from banks.

So in this case, I think size doesn't really matter. Even that $100 million dollar credit union may have gotten a few new ideas just from hanging around us. Susan M. Tant CEO Healthcare Services Credit Union Chattanooga, Tenn.