Shelter donations/venting

[Belle1962]

Heard on the 5pm news they just opened a center for NO evacuees in my county. Called the park where they are going--I have 3 bags of children's clothes and two bags of toys (yes--toys--the children need something of their own). They told me not to bring them because they don't want the people fighting over items. They said hold off a FEW DAYS and then call--when they are set up to sort through items. I UNDERSTAND this but am frustrated too---these people are arriving with NOTHING. Yes, I underatnd some people will donate "anything in any condition" but these are practically unused clothes (DGS may have worn them 2 or 3 times AT MOST).

Just venting.

 

[MNSusan]

I understand your frustration. I heard a woman on the radio this noon who said not to donate any money yet. She said that most of us will only write one check and the Red Cross is the only organization set up to receive the money right now. There will be other organizations in a few days/weeks that will also need money and if we all donate now, they won't get anything.

C'mon! www.fema.org has a whole list of organizations that are ready and willing to accept donations and get the ball rolling. I think she really did a disservice to say something like that on national radio.

 

[kejoda]

I understand your frustration too. But maybe they all ready have enough clothes to get them through the next couple of days. Right now is the time to get them fed watered and seen by med. personnal.

Also they are probably still organizing everything and clothes, toy and whatever would slow them down.

 

[bananiem]

Around here the Red Cross will often give people who have lost their homes to fire or flooding money to buy things in their size at Goodwill or wherever. They just don't have the space to have stuff to fit both genders in every size. I think the temporary places probably don't know how many to expect and once they have the evacuees they'll have a better idea of what is needed.

 

[mommy22gurlz]

I think the Red Cross is an awesome organization and they always go above and beyond in peoples time of need but here last night on the Houston News, this man pulled up to the Astrodome where refugees are being taken with a HUGE barbeque trailer with tons of food that he had made, and at the same time a big church bus had pulled in with lots of food and the Red Cross told them to go home and they needed to get organized first!!! That made me very mad, these poor people haven't eaten and there are lots of children that are having to learn what hunger is and they are turning people away!! The poor guy with the trailer sat and cried when they told him to leave.

Then I saw this father trying to get in to find his child that he had been seperated from, I mean he didn't know whether the child made it to the Astrodome or not and they WOULDN'T let him in because they had to get "organized". That poor dad was losing it which I would probably do the same thing.

I know they are doing what they think is best and I'm in no way at all knocking them but some of the decisions being made I wondered why.

Please pray for these people, it makes me so sad to see this happen. You know I was at work today calling about my MVMCP tickets at Disney World and it made me feel a little bit selfish that I was so excited getting my tickets bought for our upcoming trip when these people just a few hundred miles down the coast entire lives/families shattered in the blink of an eye.

 

[CarolA]

I understand your frustartion.

However, I worked "donations" for Andrew. Trust me while these things you want to give are important PLEASE wait until they are ready to deal with them. What happens is you deal with NEEDS first then wants.. Toys and to a certain extent "new clothing" are wants. Needs are food, water, meds etc. So what happened in Fl was the toys/clothes just got piled up. Lots of the stuff was ruined before it was ever used...

And while you are donating "good" stuff.. the JUNKE far outweighs the good stuff. If they let you bring your good stuff and folks hear about it then they want to dump thieir JUNK> (People sent ratty torn dirty undies and WOOL CLOTHES with moth holes to S FLORIDA IN AUGUST!!!!)


I have been on the sorting end of this and it is just hard to imagine what it's like. It is VIVID memory however and I really understand what they are saying. Give them time to get folks stabilized, figure out who they have etc....

 

[ksjayhawks]

Also, if you are bringing in just a small amount, which of the 100's or even 1000's of refuges are going to be selected to get them? What happens to the ones who don't? The same with the food that came in. If there wasn't enough for everyone, who gets to eat and who doesn't? Can you imagine the pushing, shoving, etc when word got out about the food?

The Red Cross and other organizations do need to get organized. They need to set up, assess the needs first, then the other (toys, clothes). They need to do things in an orderly fashion. Remember, they have been doing this for years and know what works and how to do it. We are on the outside looking in and doing things on impulse. Let those who know how to do it, run it. Have your things ready for when they do need them.

And, unfortunately, several posters are right in that so much of what is donated is JUNK. All the donations have to be gone through, sorted, sized, cleaned if necessary, organized for distribution, etc. This takes a lot of manpower that can better be put to use elsewhere.

Your heart is in the right place! Just hold on to those things and someone will be needing them.