On Point Lines & Fights Show Us The Next Potential Crisis

By Cooper Banks

A tweet from earlier today at an OnPoint Community Credit Union location in Gresham;

Gresham: police asking for more officers to the On Point Credit Union, NW Civic/Burnside, reports of hundreds of people at the location and many people are fighting, bear mace has also been deployed

I’m surprised to see very few addressing what we’re seeing this week at financial institutions across the state of Oregon.

Thousands of people lined up, braving intense heat in hopes of receiving mere $500 state economic assistance funds.  People waited as long as 5 and 6 hours to receive their $500 in assistance.

And in just three days, that assistance is now entirely gone.  There may need to be another round approved by the Governor, but it remains unclear if that’s coming.

During a news conference today, she says there could be another $30M committed to this assistance effort.

As I mentioned, one of the financial institutions helping distribute this state economic assistance is OnPoint Community Credit Union and today, Tory McVay, OnPoint Community Credit Union’s Senior Vice President and Chief Retail Officer issued the following statement;

“The State of Oregon has informed us that its emergency checks program is closed because all $35M has been allocated.  Accordingly, we will no longer be accepting applications and individuals should not visit OnPoint branches seeking to access the state’s Emergency Checks program.

When the state asked us to help distribute the money, we were pleased to support the program.  For the 70,000 Oregonians who received $500, that’s a lifeline.  If the Congress and the state are ready to set aside more relief funds, we stand ready to help once again.

He goes on to say that Oregonians can find more economic assistance by calling the 2-1-1 hotline for help.