VIDEO: Real Talk with Valley Isle Community Federal Credit Union CEO and President, Trevor Tokishi

Tara Dugan, digital sales director of MauiNow interviewed Trevor Tokishi, CEO and president of Valley Isle Community Federal Credit Union to learn how they have been affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have been impacted pretty directly mainly because our members have been impacted very directly. A lot of our members are in the service institutions and work in hotels, as well as indirectly, the pool keepers and the landscapers – they are all being impacted,” Tokishi said who has been with the credit union for 21 years.

Tokishi shared that many borrowers who recently lost their jobs have asked to defer some of their loan payments or asked for emergency loans. He said that the credit union has provided these emergency loans to most of its members with no questions asked.

“For people who are already living paycheck to paycheck this has been really damaging and so the credit union has been there for them,” he added.

The credit union recently adopted a split team model in order to continue services in case of an infection.

“So what we did was split our entire staff into two teams.  The thought process being that if anybody from either team… tests positive or show signs on team A, that entire team will be quarantined for 14 days and team B will continue to run the credit union – making sure that we stay here for our members – for those two weeks and keep the ship going,” he explained.

Tokishi concluded the interview by thanking essential workers and encouraging the Maui community.

“We will get through this together, stay home, stay healthy and stay strong.”

To learn more about how the Valley Isle Community FCU is navigating the coronavirus pandemic, watch the interview above or visit their website.