Another view on turning away local help...

[AbbyR]

It very well may not be as some have indicated at the Astrodome. I know that at our local shelter, we have asked people to hold off on clothing, etc. because we had no place to store it (now we do, at a local newspaper office). We had enough food for a week, and no place to store more, and didn't want anything to go bad, so we started taking names for volunteers later on, as this will be a long term effort. Someone asked if they could do a benefit program/concert of local talent, and were asked to hold off for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, again because enough to care for the folks was available NOW, but it's a long term effort and more will be needed.

Of course, now there is a setting for extra contributions - a bank has set up a fund - but right there at the beginning, there was enough and a setup for storage was not available.

[Dunvegan]

1. The volunteer effort...

...could use some coordination, it seems.

At first, local level coordination is best as offers come in...take names, offers, chalk-board and calendar them.

After a while...ummm...still local coordination is the best way to go...but grass-roots up to larger organizations.

Any organizational ideas from any project planners out there for the locals?