Donation ideas

[Kathyp]

Not everyone wants to donate to Red Cross (iddee, looking at you  ).  There are some others that I have worked with or belong to and can recommend.

Team Rubicon does a lot of physical stuff like mucking out, running heavy equipment, cutting trees, etc. A lot of former military.

Samaritans Purse does feeding, has medical facilities, and does a lot of counseling.  Not sure if they do shelters.

Salvation Army feeds, shelters some, does counseling, and supplies necessities. 

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief runs the cooking kitchens that Red Cross uses to feed.

If you want to donate to Red Cross, they do feeding, sheltering, counseling, and run the feeding trucks into the disaster areas so that people don't have to come to them.  Salvation Army runs truck feeding too.

In the middle of that is FEMA getting under foot, but that's another story 

Money is the best thing to send.  It can be used to get exactly what is needed and goes back into the local community.  Clothing and other stuff requires storage and sorting, and most of the time is more a problem than a help.

[Ben Framed]

Thanks Kathy.

[iddee]

Salvation Army and Samaritan's purse are my favorites. They don't charge for stuff that is donated to them, like the red cross does. There's are free to the needy. I have a friend in Mississippi whose daughter lost her mobile home in a hurricane. It left her and 4 kids homeless. Samaritan's purse donated her a new mobile home, along with delivery, hook-up and all, so YES, they provide shelter in a permanent way.

[Kathyp]

They don't charge for stuff that is donated to them, like the red cross does.

Just a correction:  RC does not charge for disaster relief stuff.  Everything they give out, including money, is free to the person in need.

[iddee]

They charge a GI laying in a field hospital in a foreign land with bullet holes in his gut. They charge for blood if you are lying in a hospital dying.  They only loan, NOT GIVE, if you have to travel home in an emergency from a foreign country and need money for the trip. They charged for doughnuts and coffee to the GI's in Viet Nam. Those are my four connected experiences.

[BeeMaster2]

Kathy,
Before I saw Iddee?s post, I was going to say, don?t tell that to our military members. Yes I know you are one of us.
Maybe they learned their lesson when a lot of that went public and they lost donations, but what Iddee said is true.
Jim Altmiller

[Michael Bush]

>Just a correction:  RC does not charge for disaster relief stuff.  Everything they give out, including money, is free to the person in need.

I cant say what they are doing right this minute but Red Cross will do it without money, except they send a bill...  I know many people who have gotten those bills.

[Kathyp]

I know many people who have gotten those bills.

There is no charge or bill for disaster relief.  There are conditions under which Red Cross will make loans.  Those are separate from disaster relief.

I have no horse in that race.  I don't go with them anymore.  Just want people to know that they will not ever be charged for disaster relief help. 

[iddee]

Do you mean NATURAL disaster? I would consider laying in a field hospital in a foreign country with your guts shot out with two 50 caliber machine gun bullets a disaster.

[Kathyp]

Do you mean NATURAL disaster? I would consider laying in a field hospital in a foreign country with your guts shot out with two 50 caliber machine gun bullets a disaster.

I don't know what you are talking about, but OK, natural disaster.  There is no charge for anything the Red Cross does during natural disaster relief.

Hope that's better.

[iddee]

I'm talking about my father's youngest brother in Korea. They were charging a bit more than 10 times retail for some of the things they offered him while he was receiving 16 feet of plastic intestines and a goat's stomach. REAL FINE ORGANIZATION. NOT!

[Kathyp]

Iddee, I don't know or really care what happened that many years ago in a war.  I do care that people have accurate info now, and know that if they take advantage of shelters, or food, or whatever, during a disaster, they will not be charged for that help.

I know you don't like them, but in the here and now, they are usually the biggest group in a disaster and often the only shelters.  No one is forcing anyone to use them, but no one should discourage that either.  Help is help.

[iddee]

Sorry, Kathy, I have to disagree with you. Your post sounds like a Dem. speech, spinning the truth totally out of site.

A good read....  https://www.propublica.org/article/red-cross-ceo-has-been-misleading-about-donations

[Kathyp]

iddee, she is the reason I no longer do Red Cross. She is a horrible CEO and she has jeopardized the mission.

None of that negates the fact that if people need help and Red Cross is there for shelter, feeding, etc. it is free and people should not be discouraged from taking advantage of what they offer.

You use what you want to use and donate where you want to donate.  Please don't discourage people from taking help where it is offered. 

[iddee]

OK. We can end it here and stay friends. I've said my piece and you yours. CHEERS