The $1.2 million Table Rock Federal Credit Union has appealed for assistance as it tries to raise the money it needs to upgrade its water system and remain open.

According to a message from Table Rock CEO Regina McIlrath, the credit union has its facilities in a strip mall in a rural, unincorporated community. No one lives in the strip mall, but the merchants who own property there have formed an association to maintain common property, including a common water treatment facility that has become the source of their problems.

McIlrath wrote that although the 35-year-old facility works, it has fallen behind the standards promulgated by Missouri's Department of Natural Resources. DNR has required the businesses to upgrade the treatment system or it will close down the strip mall and all the businesses with it, McIlrath wrote.