Alliance Trucking finds the fuel it needs to keep delivering

Alliance Trucking of Medford covers a lot of ground, hauling goods to 48 states. As a full-service brokerage, they know how to get deliveries anywhere they need to be. But the coronavirus slowdown quickly became a major roadblock.

Customers began to have trouble paying their bills and, in turn, company President Rhonda Barry began to worry about taking care of her own employees and their families. “We were definitely feeling the pinch,” says Rhonda.

With everything going on, Rhonda was unaware that a program had been rolled out to help small businesses—the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

Dawn Hartley, Relationship Banking Officer at Oregon Pacific Bank in Medford, called the trucking company to tell them about the program. “She said, ‘You guys want to jump on this?'” Rhonda recalls.

At the time, Alliance Trucking was doing business with another bank, so Rhonda reached out to see if they could apply through their bank. After repeated phone calls, she was finally told to apply online and was not offered help.

“I called Dawn at Oregon Pacific Bank and told her what I’d learned. She said, ‘I can get the money for you.’ So, I took my paperwork to her and she helped me fill it out—it took us about an hour.” The approval came shortly after and funds arrived within a few days. “It was huge for us,” Rhonda says.

Dawn was happy to be of service. “I heard ‘Thank you so much!’ so many times,” she says of the time she spent helping local businesses with their PPP loan applications. Helping businesses and lifting up the community is at the core of Oregon Pacific Bank’s mission, Dawn says.

Rhonda ultimately decided to move their accounts to Oregon Pacific bank, and she’s glad they made the switch. “With Oregon Pacific, it’s such a small bank and they really care about their customers—they care about their people,” she says.

In all, Oregon Pacific Bank has loaned more than $125.2 million to 752 businesses and nonprofits in Lane, Coos, Douglas and Jackson counties, as part of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program, retaining more than 15,000 local jobs. Part of the CARES Act, these forgivable loans provide a direct incentive for businesses and nonprofits to keep workers employed during the crisis.