HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Current economic conditions have put a strainon financial institutions and the country as a whole, but creditunions are not faltering in the people helping people philosophythrough community involvement and donations.

Noelle Fischer-Herbert, vice president of corporate developmentat Pacific Service Credit Union in Walnut Creek, Calif., said thather credit union has been fortunate to not have to make anycutbacks in community involvement and donations because the creditunion has a set annual amount that goes toward community outreacheach year. In feedback she received from the American Red Cross,Fischer-Herbert said that the Red Cross reported that they've seena reduction in contributions this year and have seen more peoplethat are in need.

"With the California housing crisis, people are taking advantageof resources they never thought they would have to,"Fischer-Herbert said. "We're fortunate to be in an organizationwhere cutting community involvement isn't on the table."

Jenna Harper, marketing representative at Pen Air Federal CreditUnion in Pensacola, Fla., said that Pen Air has also not had toexperience any cutbacks in community outreach. Recently, she saidthe credit union donated $10,000 to Honor Flight, a program thatprovides transportation to World War II veterans to the memorial inWashington. Harper said that credit union has a specific communityservice budget that is part of the marketing budget.

Rick Stout, senior vice president at Charter Oak Credit Union,Groton, Conn., said that while the credit union does not have aspecific set aside budget for community involvement, it has alsonot had to make any cutbacks.

"We try to anticipate what we'll allocate, and at our Aprilplanning session, we developed a five-year plan requested by ourdirectors to have a clear focus on giving back to the community andto members," Stout said.

Stout said that he has also seen a growing need in the communitydue to the current economy. This past month, Charter Oak hired anemployee who will monitor requests for donations and communityinvolvement from the credit union.

Pacific Service also has a system set up to monitor itscommunity outreach. Instead of an employee monitoring requests,Pacific Service has a system in place where community organizationscan request assistance. The credit union then evaluates the requestand makes sure the organization meets the credit union'srequirements to ensure that the money goes directly to benefit thecommunity and benefits as many people as possible. Pacific Servicealso has a community involvement committee that focuses on givingassistance to low-income communities.

"We have them break down how many people will be impacted perdollar," Fischer-Herbert said. "We have a robust program, and we'vespent a lot of time making it into something that works. We don'thave the money to save the world from all the ills, but we dorecognize we have a responsibility to the community."

Stout said that "sometimes you don't have to do big things tomake an impact on the community." He shared a story about CharterOaks Waterford office. The office has woods located in the rear ofthe building that are, during the summer months, occupied byhomeless people. The credit union put a porta potty up in the backof the property for these people to use under the condition thatthey don't create a mess or vandalize it. Stout said that it's beenup for over a year, and they've had no problems.

"It's about giving back to a group of people that find thatservice extremely valuable," Stout said.

Harper said that Pen Air has no set requirements in theircommunity outreach but that they try to give everyone an equalopportunity and spread out their donations and involvement.

"We help out where we can, and up till now, we've done very wellwith being able to spread things out, and, hopefully, the currenteconomy won't impact that."

Looking ahead to the holiday season, Fischer-Herbert said thatthe CU has $45,000-$50,000 set aside specifically for the seasonand have organizations that they work with during the holidaysevery year. Fischer-Herbert said every holiday season PacificServices gives food baskets during Thanksgiving and runs a foodbank, does Toys for Tots, adopt a Christmas tree and a giving treeprogram. Also, Pacific Service focuses its biggest contribution tothe Salvation Army toward the end of the year and sponsors a toydrive for a local theater group. After Pacific Service extendstheir set amount, Fischer-Herbert said that it takes requests on afirst-come, first-serve basis.

Stout said that though he expects there will be more of a needthis holiday season with the current economy, Charter Oak plans tosimply continue to do more of the same.

"What this economy says to us is that whether it's good times orbad times there is always a need," Stout said.

As an organization, Joe Dearborn, executive director for theCredit Unions for Kids program at Children's Miracle Network, saidthat the network is expecting a downturn due to the economy and isseeing a little bit of it already at the retail level.

"The economy is certainly going to impact everyone'sfundraising, and we're realistic in regards to our expectations,"Dearborn said.

However, he also said that his group is specifically optimisticabout credit unions and is hoping for an 8% to 10% increase fromlast year. Last year, Children's Miracle Network collected $8.7million from credit unions.

Though with the expecting downturn in general donations,Dearborn said that he does expect with the state of the economythere will be a greater need for funds this year. To help combatthe impact of the slowing economy, Dearborn said the group istrying to be more creative in fundraising campaigns and is tryingto tap into new potential donors.

"The American population is very generous," Dearborn said. "Wesee it time after time with disasters like Hurricane Katrina andthat will certainly continue in the current economy."

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