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The following Hurricane Ike Story was posted by Jennifer Robinett on our credit union blog.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== Jennifer's Story ===

I can honestly say the past week has seemed the longest week of my life. Riding out a hurricane is not just getting through the noise and lack of sleep when it tears through your town. It is about pulling through the aftermath of such a powerful storm. I stayed in Houston for Hurricane Ike, and the most difficult part of being in the fourth largest city in the nation is dealing with the chaos that ensued after.

No power or traffic lights, high water, flooding damage. Intermittent communication was available when FEMA didn't take over cell phone towers. There was shortage of fuel, water, basic necessities... Starbucks! I have learned that apparently some still don't know the concept of a 4 way stop.

All joking aside, I have learned many things about "Hunkerin' Down" during and after a hurricane. 1. Never underestimate the value of preparedness. 2. Heed all city and weather advisories seriously. 3. Contact family or friends to make a plan for AFTER the hurricane.

Ironically, it is good to see the positive outcomes that occur when such disaster and mayhem befall a community. Southeast Texas and people from all over the country have come together to help those who are not so fortunate. I have seen this first-hand.

As Business Development Manager for my credit union, my staff and I have been volunteering within the community everyday this past week to provide assistance and moral support to the millions of people who are in dire need of someone to guide them through this horrific experience. Many have lost all they possessed- their homes, cars, contents...Everything. Some are disabled or weak and cannot leave their flooded homes and are at risk of many health related diseases.

It continues to be an emotional experience for us as we hear many victims' personal accounts. As I reflect on the past week, I am so very thankful for what I have and the people who are there for me. I am thankful to be part of the credit union family who has been there for all who have experienced the hardships of Ike.

Simply offering an errand or a word of encouragement has meant the world to those who struggle through these weeks. Credit Unions truly are serving the underserved in Houston, TX.

Watch the interview with Renell Bloom, Branch Manager at Coastal Community FCU, and hear her story of working with members through Hurricane Ike. Shout back and share your story of how you have been able to help your credit union members during tough times.

The following Hurricane Ike Story was posted by Natasha Melugin on our credit union blog.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== Natasha's Story ===

We decided to head west to avoid Ike's path and are in sunny Corpus Christi.  Stayed up all night watching the news coverage on the storm.

A friend of mine who stayed went to check on my home.  He stated my street is un-drivable and looks like a forest.  I had 10-15 50" pines surrounding my home.  Many of them fell, 3 of them directly on it.  One went through the roof.  He did not report any flooding.  I am not sure when I will be able to get back home, but currently I am very grateful to have one...

Watch the interview below with Carol Purdy, President & CEO of Coastal Community Federal Credit Union, and hear her story about Hurricane Ike and keeping the credit union up and running before, during and after the storm.

The following is a post from our credit union blog as we experienced Hurricane Ike.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== The Eye of Ike - 6:15 PM ===

Wow... what a very long day this has been.  It has been both physically and mentally exhausting.  After checking our house this morning and finding it OK for the most part with one small leak and one shingle pulled back, we went to eat breakfast at my parents house down the street.  They faired pretty well too.

After we left, we drove over to my wife's parents house which is about 5 minutes away. It ended up taking 15 minutes to get there due to water and debris in the road. Once there, things did not look so pretty. Her parents have alot of old oak trees around there house. On a positive note, none landed on the house and there was no major damage there. However, some of the cars did not do so well.

From the looks of it, it appeared that a small tornado went through as the trees snapped off at the top like toothepicks and were not uprooted or blown over. They even had a porta-potty blown into there yard. I have pictures which will be posted.

At about 1:30PM, her parents went to their church (which is in Sugar Land about 25 miles from Pasadena) where they had heard there was major damage. Upon arriving, her parents found that half the roof was blown off and there was water standing inside. There was supposed to be a church party tonight which has turned into a church cleanup.

While my wife's parents went to the church, my wife and I went to the office. We found that an entire window had been blown out and rain got in and soaked the carpet and a desk. In the grand scheme of things no big deal. All computers, servers and electronic equipment had already been backed up, removed or stored. I will post more on the business side of things in a following post.

We're still without power here but I type this post on my laptop now instead of my phone... so much quicker. I was able to get back online thanks to a little planning ahead. Earlier this hurricane season, I picked up a couple of power convertors to run from the cars.  Now that the phones are backup, I wanted to check the Uverse.

After plugging the convertor in and turning the car on, the router flickered red, the green, then red, then finally stayed green and I was back online.

Check out the video interview below with Tracy Florida, Director of Training and Events for the Texas Credit Union League, as she talks about the importance of Give Galveston a Hand, how you can help and why marketers can make a difference. 

The following is a post from our credit union blog as we experienced Hurricane Ike.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== The Eye of Ike - 9:33 AM ===

I have been up for about an hour now. In a way, the feeling I had when I awoke was a bit like Christmas. That may sound a bit odd but it was more the excitement and anxiety of what exactly happened in the dark of night.

My wife was still sleeping when I awoke and so I opened the blinds to see outside. There were so many leaves and twigs plastered to the window. Upon first glance in the backyard, the only damage was to the grapevines. I took a look out the side window and saw that our neighbor lost about 5 trees in her backyard.

Upon looking out the front windows, our trees were fine. But then I saw that a house across the way lost about half the shingles on the back of their roof leaving plywood exposed. That made me think about water damage as I was not sure if we lost any shingles.

At that time, the phone rings and it is my father asking how everything was They live right down the street and they had lost some shingles and had a couple of water leaks. I looked aorund the house on the inside and found one very small water leak.

I then went outside and looked around. Leaves and twigs were all over the yard and the ground was saturated. The wind was still high but not like last night. The worst was from about midnight to 7 this morning. I looked at the roof and found we did not lose any shingles.

I am still blogging from my phone as the power is still out. The cell phones work but are on roaming. Glad we have the Sprint Everything plan as we will not be charged.

Jonathan has not posted any videos due to the lack of power. We are about to head down to my parents for breakfast and will take pictures to post later. My Mammaw is cooking French Toast. They came in from Beaumont.

The following is a post from our credit union blog as we experienced Hurricane Ike.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== The Eye of Ike - 5:18 AM ===

The eye has passed and the winds and rain have started back up. Except this time the winds are coming from the south instead of from the north as before. So now wind/rain/debris are being thrown on the south side windows.

We probably have another 5-6 hours of high winds that may be more intense than before. It has been a long night/day/few days. From getting our gulf coast CUs prepared for the storm, to flying up to Dallas to setup the backup location if needed, to driving back down to Houston down 45 south towards the storm to be with the family, what a past few crazy days.

Power just went out again and have been making these blog posts throughout the night via my mobile phone. Just took a peak outside and some of my grape vines have been ripped off there t-posts. Hope to have some pics up later this morning when it is safe to head outside.

Watch the interview with Meg Winchester, director of the Galveston CVB. If you were affected by the hurricane or know someone who was and is still in need of help, shout out below with your thoughts.  We want to hear from you.  Also, grab the RSS feed to keep in the know with future interviews and information about how you can help Give Galveston a Hand.

The following is a post from our credit union blog as we experienced Hurricane Ike.  We too want to hear your story.  How did Hurricane Ike affect you?  Click here and shout back with your thoughts and spread the word to have your friends and families tell their story.

=== The Eye of Ike - 4:27 AM ===

The eye of Ike is here. I have spent the last 4 hours snoozing in and out of sleep. The wind has been coming in around 80 plus MPH constant and then gusts. Every now and then we will get a big gust that wakes me up and sounds like the roof is barely holding on. There are knocks and bangs on the windows from unknown debris.

The power finally got knocked around 1:30 AM. Right now though, it is crazy calm. No wind... No rain. Just quiet. After a quick look outside there appears to be no major damage but it is still dark.

Leaves scatter the yard with small branches. There appear to be a few small trees blown down around the neighborhood. The power/internet/Uverse have all come back on during the eye. Not sure how much longer we have of the calm.