June 1, 2020

Good Afternoon and Happy June, Central Willamette Members: 

We are very proud and excited today to announce our branch plans during the COVID-19 phased re-entry. 

It’s important to remember that we NEVER closed. All of our branches have remained open for appointments throughout this pandemic, and we’ve been encouraging you to use our drive-ups, our full service Contact Center, our new text messaging platform, and our wide array of online banking services- like remote deposit capture. We implore you to continue banking with us in these remote methods as our communities reopen post-pandemic. Often, we can serve you more quickly and efficiently using remote channels than if you were to walk-in to a branch. If you aren’t currently set up with remote banking capabilities, please call or message us and we would be happy to talk you through the steps necessary.  We exist to serve you in the credit union philosophy of people helping people; that has not changed. It is essential that we do everything we can to keep our members and employees safe. 

With that in mind, here are some changes you will see if you choose to come visit us in-person at a branch: 

  • We will have Plexiglass protective germ shields at each service area and our employees will wear appropriate personal protective equipment, or PPE, as per the established Phase 1 guidelines so that we can best protect you and our staff.This is how our business is choosing to operate and guide our communities forward. We ask that you respect that with your actions and your words when you visit with us. 
  • You are also more than welcome to wear appropriate PPE to enter any of our locations. We do ask that you refrain from wearing a facial covering in conjunction with a hat or dark glasses. We will need to be able to identify you, so please be prepared to show identification and temporarily remove your facial covering when asked. Once we’ve positively identified you, you may certainly put it back in place.
  • Our lobbies will look a bit more spacious as we’ve removed some furniture to ensure physical distancing measures are observed. We will also refrain indefinitely from serving coffee and providing magazines and childrens’ books for your wait.
  • We are sanitizing non-stop between members to ensure the safety of our members and employees. This isn’t just happening in our lobbies and offices; we’re keeping pens sanitized for member use and we’re sanitizing drive-up canisters and protective screens between members. 
  • We are limiting the number of people in each location at one time. While appointments are no longer required, they are still highly encouraged. If we are already at max capacity and the line is out the outside door we ask that you respect that and kindly and patiently wait your turn at the appropriate physical distance. Please also consider offering your spot up to elderly or others when it makes sense. To best serve you we also urge you to call or text and setup an appointment instead of waiting.
  • We are asking that when you come inside for a lobby or office transaction that you limit your party to two people per family/unit. If you have extenuating circumstances please let us know ahead of time so that we can determine the safest, most convenient way to serve you. You can call or text the specific location you want to access and we’ll work with you to find the best way to help. 
  • When inside, please be cognizant of the direction of traffic flow and where you stand or wait. We’ve created guidelines on the floors for where to stand and moved chairs around to be able to accommodate the most people that we safely can while maintaining physical distancing requirements. 
  • We continue to urge you to ‘skip the trip’ and take advantage of our suite of digital offerings. You can now engage with us online, within our app, over the phone, via text (texting a specific branch or utilizing text banking), or through secure messaging.

Thank you for your patience. As community leaders, it is upon us to ‘do the right thing’, even when it isn’t easy. Please join us as we walk this path in supporting suggested protocols for reentry. 

We value each of you, and your membership, immensely. Thank you for your loyalty and your faith in us. Together, we will arrive on the other side of this smarter, stronger, and better prepared to serve one another.