In Taylor Caldwell's autobiography (On Growing up Tough) she wrote of an aunt who was preparing clothing to be donated to the missions in Africa. Miss Caldwell's aunt was a domineering force and not one to be trifled with.
After watching her for a bit, Miss Caldwell asked, "Why are you cutting the buttons and zippers off the blouses and slacks?"
Her aunt answered "Because buttons and zippers are expensive"
Miss Caldwell responded "But aren't we sending them clothing so they can cover up their private-parts?"
Miss Caldwell was sent to bed without dinner that night.
Lucky
My friend Lucky and his wife have been spending most days over in Dawson Springs, Kentucky. Dawson Springs was one of the towns hit by the tornadoes back in early December. It wasn't the biggest town but it is close to where Lucky lives.
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| Photo credit Justin Michaels |
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My wife & I have been working disaster relief for the past 6 weeks, for the tornado victims at Dawson Springs (I'd hazard a guess that 70% of the entire little town of 2600 or so people was totally obliterated) some of whom are temporarily housed at nearby Pennyrile Forest State Park Resort... some victims from Mayfield, Benton and points west are being housed at state park resorts at Land Between the Lakes (Barkley, KenLake, KY Dam Village) We've mostly been sorting through used clothing and assorted stuff, 6-7 days a week, donated by folks from around the country. It's been eye-opening. People have been incredibly generous, but, at the same time, incredibly thoughtless.
It would probably mortify folks to know it, but we've sorted through donated clothes... well over 75% were inappropriate... shorts, t-shirts, prom dresses, dirty used underwear, 1960s clothing that was dry-rotting in someone's grandmother's closet, negligee', old worn out shoes, etc., and have 'sold' a semi-load (30,000 lb) of used clothing for 25 cents/lb just to get it out of the way and generate some $$ to buy needed supplies to help get folks re-established in their next place of residence. Yes, there have been some nice new articles of clothing and bedding, but not a whole lot.After the first 48 hrs, people in these sorts of disasters don't really need 'stuff', they need money &/or gift cards, and physical labor help... and all the stacks and stacks of bottled water, hand sanitizer, toothpaste & toothbrushes(we have so much of this, no one in the state or KY should ever have a cavity again!) would have been better sourced locally - if needed - giving folks what they NEED, when they need it, and also supporting the impacted local economy!
But TV & radio stations keep fostering this 'Let's send truck/busloads of supplies to these folks!' mentality. I wish it would stop, and I'll certainly not contribute to one of those sorts of drives again.I can attest to the used clothing, used shoes, bottled water, toys, hand sanitizer (oceans of it!), deodorant/shampoo-conditioner/toothpaste-toothbrushes being all but totally unneeded and unwanted. We still have a semi-trailer full of mostly new toys - many of them wrapped for Christmas... they'll have to be unwrapped to figure out what age/gender, etc., they're appropriate for... and God only knows what anyone is going to be able to do with them... but they were 'donated', so they can't be thrown away!
We weren't inundated, at our site, with a lot of food - but in sorting through, I've seen quite a bit of out-of-date stuff, lots of boxed 'stuffing', and even opened, partially-used packages of things. I just wonder, sometimes, "What are people thinking?"
We've got cases and cases of infant formula... but virtually no requests for it. IDK how many babies were in Dawson or other affected areas, but I'll almost bet that the vast majority are on WIC... and get formula 'free' from the government.
Tons of diapers - infant/toddler AND Adult... and almost no one has requested any. Lots & lots of 'feminine hygiene' products... which, I presume WILL probably move at some point...
Bonus links:
The Ten Worst things to donate after a Disaster
Stop donating goods to disaster victims when they really need money
Workers drowning in unsolicited junk
And a few concluding words from Lucky
It is hard to decide exactly where to send monetary donations - if you have a trusted direct contact with boots-on-the-ground, that's probably the best route to go. I now know whom locally to give $$ to, but early on, we didn't.
We had a church group from Tupelo MS come up and cook burgers one day and hand out gift cards to victims - who were 'vetted' by the girl heading up relief efforts at our site, to make sure the folks who needed it most got them. They told us, "We know y'all didn't need more 'stuff'... we've been through this before."
Early on, the American Red Cross was hanging around every day, but all I could see that they were doing was grabbing any monetary donations that were coming in at that site... they may have been doing something, but I never saw or heard of them providing any help to the efforts there.
My wife made a sizeable contribution to Direct Relief, based on her research - was especially pleased that they'd had an endowment that covers administrative costs, so virtually all donations go to relief programs... but I just had a look at their website, and see they have a new 'Health Equity' program that they're funding... makes me wonder how 'woke' they are. I just hope my $$$ aren't going to fund a Marxist CRT-based program.
Note: Underlining is mine to emphasize what jumped out at me
I also want to point out that if you have a boots-on-the-ground contact they can tell you exactly what they need as local stores may have been depleted of things like generators and such.
ERJ, I think this is a legitimate problem - and also something that could be presented differently. While cash is by far the easiest to give, it can be hard to know who is taking their cut prior to it reaching anyone (looking at you, Red Cross). There is also something that at least to me, feels a little less personal about giving money - I get hit up (as we all do) all the time.
ReplyDeleteOne aspect that at least for me is a version of boots on the ground, where there is a face and a name (usually provided by an acquaintance or a blogger). That makes it seem less like I am giving to a faceless entity and more to a person/persons.
An idea would be to contact Lucky, and ask; "After all you've seen, what should people be giving that would be the most help to these newly homeless people?" Hopefully he will reply with a concise list so that people can give what is truly needed.
ReplyDeleteUsed food...there are some folks out there that don't have a heck of a lot, but are willing to forego food so that another, more needful person has a decent meal.
Why am I NOT surprised about the Red Cross... grrr...
ReplyDeleteI have witnessed the American Red Cross up close and personal after three hurricanes. They are useless. They make a big show for the camera and solicit donations. As soon as the cameras leave, they leave. The only time I saw them with supplies for people it was blankets... and they were selling those.
ReplyDelete"Samaritan's Purse" is the one to support. They showed up the day after the hurricane and stayed for MONTHS helping to rebuild. Support them.
We had a winter house at Punta Gorda Fl. when Hurricane Charlie went through. It really trashed the area. The ONLY organization that I ever saw on the streets helping people out was Salvation Army. They were there every day helping people so I have been donating to them since then until recently when they went WOKE.--ken
ReplyDeleteEverything "donation" has been rendered useless anymore due to all the scamming by shysters. If you feel the need to donate to a cause do so eyeball to eyeball, hand to hand, directly. Otherwise your effort is likely in vane, or worse. One more thing that has turned to shit...
ReplyDeleteghostsniper pretty much sums up my attitude as well. If I don't know them or they're not vouched for by someone I know, then I keep looking for a place to donate. Sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteFor what it is worth, the Amish and Mennonite tradition believes that charity should be rendered person-to-person so the giver is less likely to feel "better than" the person they are rendering aid to.
DeleteI volunteered, as a medical provider.
ReplyDeleteEvidently there was no need/no way to capitalize on my offer.
Still, interestingly enough, some KY volunteer, with their emerg mgmt, telephoned me a couple of weeks later, to *thank* me, for my offer.
Get ahold of a Knights of Columbus council locally.
ReplyDeleteWe dive headfirst into those kind of situations and all the money goes to the needy.
Here in Bowling Green, we mirror Lucky's experiences.
ReplyDeleteI volunteer at two centers and we have had clothes donated that should have been thrown out and a lot of redundant relief centers that should be closed. As far as food we had a gym full of bottled water and a wall of Pop Tarts. If a person didn't want a case of water, we gave them two cases. There is little or no places left to store unusable items.
My sister and her friends wanted to donate money so I gave them a list of organizations that were really working locally, mostly church groups. Red Cross poorly thought of here as well. It's all about the fundraising with some groups.
The area hit hardest had most of the one car families vehicles destroyed. This is hard to replace currently.
BTW, the surrounding Amish and Mennonite communities have showed up in force to help.
I live in Mayfield. Had minor house damage but a 80' magnolia tree broke in half and 2 fruit trees uprooted. Monday was out dragging limbs to curb and Samaritan Purse asked if I needed help. They came Wed. and worked miracles and within 3 days had 4 more homes adjacent completely cleaned. I cannot say enough good thing about that organization. And while most other org have moved on they are still here working. I found the one and only that'll I actually give money too. As a side note 2 men from Eaton Rapids were arrested as they left town having robbed a doctors office who had major damage and stole drugs and money.
ReplyDeleteThe mention of Samaritan's Purse made me remember this local group, Baptists on a Mission (https://baptistsonmission.org/). They might be a good candidate for my money.
ReplyDelete