WP: Two-Thirds of Katrina Donations Exhausted

[Pirate Smile]

Two-Thirds of Katrina Donations Exhausted
Charities Faced With Difficult Decisions and Countless Requests as They Spend What Is Left

By Jacqueline L. Salmon and Leef Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 27, 2006; Page A01

Six months after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast, charities have disbursed more than $2 billion of the record sums they raised for the storm's victims, leaving less than $1 billion for the monumental task of helping hundreds of thousands of storm victims rebuild their lives, according to a survey by The Washington Post.

Two-thirds of the $3.27 billion raised by private nonprofit organizations and tracked by The Post went to help evacuees and other Katrina victims with immediate needs -- cash, food and temporary shelter, medical care, tarps for damaged homes and school supplies for displaced children.

What's left, say charities and federal officials, will need to be stretched over years to rebuild lives and reconstruct the social fabric of the Gulf Coast -- from job training to mental health counseling to rebuilding the homes of the poor to reestablishing arts organizations and paying clergy as they wait for their congregations to return.

The Post survey, the first detailed examination of the largest outpouring of charity in the nation's history, also found the following:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601383.html

[Wordie]

1. That's really frightening, as there are so many who still need help. K&R

[Pirate Smile]

2. more

"The speed of the charitable inflow after Katrina topped the torrid pace of donations after the Sept. 11 attacks, when donations hit the $1 billion mark in six weeks and ultimately rose to $2.8 billion, according to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.

Donations to Katrina, in contrast, hit $1 billion in three weeks.

Even so, Katrina presents far broader challenges -- simply because the money must be spread over so many more victims.

"Even if we doubled, tripled or quadrupled what we have, we still wouldn't be able to meet the need," said Gary Lundstrom, director of projects for Samaritan's Purse, which is rebuilding homes along the Mississippi coast and in Louisiana's ravaged St. Bernard Parish with much of its $34 million."

[Withywindle]

3. Yeah, the thing is...

...people's homes weren't destroyed on Sept 11. Survivors and devastated victims' families still had a place to sleep and food to eat.

That's such a basic difference on the scope of the disaster right there, and of course the class/race/political exploitability "variables."

[aquart]

4. Since Katrina, I feel embarrassed to say 9/11.

No terrorist ever destroyed a city. Katrina....And we have NOTHING in place to cope with next summer.

The one thing you can say about George W. Bush, he is an incompetent executive. Oh, and a rotten manager. And a bad man with money. And... I guess it wasn't one thing.

[zann725]

5. No amount of money would be enough, when you consider WHO the

way the donations were squandered (thousands of trailers STILL sitting idle and damaged permanantly now by sitting months in the mud and winter weather...while homeless K. victims now go homeless.

A multi-million dollar fancy morgue facility, built more for "show" than function...that somehow just couldn't "find" tenough bodies to DNA test, or perform autopsies on. (Wouldn't want to know how many elderly or others were "euthanized" or accidentally shot by Troops sent in to guard them).

And of course there's the huge cost of relocation of Miss. & New Orleans victims to states far away (most to primarily "white" areas, with VERY COLD temperatures for NOW thousands of homeles victims in Winter. Instead of using that money to relocate the victims closer (in uneffected Miss. areas)...and sending THEM in to help the rebuilding and clean-up (giving them jobs and a sense of community around people they know)...instead of living isolated, and homeless and peniless in Utah???

Then there were all the sub-sub-contractors (like the trucking companies who drove that trailer-load of ice around the country,paid to store it for a while, and eventually "dumped" it.)

Plus the usual Repug specialty...money skimming. And of course giving to "church charities" who "help" victims in exchange for heavily-suggested conversion. I spoke recently with someone who went down to help Habitat for Humanities build homes. When she returned, I asked her about it. She droned on about how everybody got down on their knees, praying to the Lord, etc. I hope the down on the knees was NOT a requirement for receipt of Habitat home?

And of course, when Shrub smirked wideley, chuckled and said "Send CASH" in one of his speeches immediately right after Katrina, I remember thinking...yeah, "cash"...the way this Admin. works best...when outright laundering takes too long.

[Tight_rope]

6. They need to check Cheney's pockets!...It's all there!

[robbedvoter]

7. Including the 100,000 millions from UAE?

[Catchawave]

8. MSNBC reported only 50 cents of every

Red Cross dollar was spent on victims ?

[Patiod]

10. But..but..but...they'll just spend it on beer

Or so the conservatives I know tell me....:eyes:

[meganmonkey]

9. Relevent FOOD BANK LINKS - Please donate!

If you can afford to help out with this situation, one way is to donate to the area food banks rather than a national 'umbrella' organization.

The following are some food banks in the affected areas (not an exhaustive list - feel free to add more or inform us of other local programs):

Food Bank of Greater New Orleans & Acadiana
1201 Sams Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70123
Donate online: http://www.no-hunger.org/donations.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank: http://www.brfoodbank.org/

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Mississippi Food Network: http://www.msfoodnet.org/

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The Bay Area Food Bank, Theodore, AL: http://www.bayareafoodbank.org/

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Houston Food Bank: http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/

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FOOD FOR ALL!!! NO ONE SHOULD GO TO BED HUNGRY!!!

:patriot:

[Gman]

11. Don't forget Randi Rhodes' program

here: http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/

[meganmonkey]

12. KICK!!!

KICK KICK KICK!!!

:kick:

[Pastiche423]

13. What I want to know

is, where is the itemized list of exactly where every penny donated went to?

I, especially want the Red Cross' list.