Flood relief - who should we donate to please?

[GregD]

I want to send a donation to support the flood victims. There was a recent thread that talked about how Red Cross has excessive administrative costs, but OTOH yesterday Rachel reported that they have exhausted their disaster funds and are now borrowing money. This sucks.

Who is on the ground doing the needed relief support, and is worthy of donations? Is it Red Cross, or other groups?

Once this answer becomes clear, might we also pin something at the top of DU for other to reference?

[movonne]

1. check Obama site...I think I read here that he was collection money

for the red cross and he has people from his campaign out helping..

[NightWatcher]

2. here's an idea, BE PREPARED!!! then you might not need help from anyone

FEMA wont help. The Red Cross is out of diaster relief money. The government doesnt like you. No one else is responsible for you or your safety and well being.

Take Care of Yourself.

Shit happens, but maybe you can lessen it's blow by being prepared.

-signed, a hurricane Ivan survivor

[Debi]

4. I think the OP was offering to help not asking for help n/t

[Debi]

3. Go to any TV sites in Iowa

www.kwwl.com
www.kcci.com
www.kcrg.com
www.kgan.com
www.whotv.com

or newspapers

www.wcfcourier.com
www.dmregister.com

or here's a king of clearinghouse web site for folks who need help/want to help

http://www.2008flood.org/

[GregD]

5. Kick for the evening crew

Anyone? I looked at the above TV and newspaper sites and didn't find anything particularly helpful.

[GregD]

6. Nobody? Not so much as a kick from anyone?

Nobody has any thoughts on this?

[crickets]

8. There was another thread earlier in the week

It got a little more response that this one, but not much; I'm not sure why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3467331

[GregD]

10. ok, that's the post that I had seen but could no longer find.

thank you cricket.

[crickets]

11. You're welcome. Results of further flood relief research -

I've made some phone calls and done some more looking around online.

Regarding some of the organizations suggested previously:

America's Second Harvest is responding directly to Midwest flooding. There are people already 'on the ground' in the affected states, but I couldn't get answers regarding giving directly to that cause through ASH - because the staff was in a meeting about the floods when I called. :) The phone rep I spoke to was pretty sure that directed donations would be accepted, but didn't want to mislead, so I will be calling back about that to confirm. Only 2% of donations goes to admin and overhead, so 98% of all donations go directly toward relief. That's a very good ratio.

Mercy Corps tends to work toward international relief, not within the USA. There are some exceptions, though not Midwest flooding at this time. If this should change in the future, it would be reflected on their web site.

Habitat for Humanity has no programs specifically directed toward Midwest flooding at this time, though that is expected to change in the future. I was referred to their disaster response team for further details but unfortunately the representative was unavailable when I called. I'm going to call back tomorrow.

The Hunger Site (GreaterGood.org/CharityUSA.com) does have options for donations at their store. The option is to give in $25.00 increments and according to the phone rep I spoke to, 100% of the donation goes toward relief. If the following links don't work, go to The Hunger Site store
http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/site.do?siteId=220

and search for "midwest flood" to see the listings.

Help Flood Victims in the Midwest
https://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=33557&siteId=220

Help Animal Victims of the Midwest Flood
https://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/item.do?siteId=310&itemId=32999


Most helpful online pages with further charity listings:

Charity Navigator: Helping Victims of the Midwest Floods
http://blog.charitynavigator.org/2008/06/helping-victims-of-midwest-floods.html

THE MIDWEST FLOODING; How to Donate To Flood Relief
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2D8153DF937A25754C0A965958260


HTH!

[GregD]

13. It helped greatly.

I made a donation to Second Harvest - they have a whole section dedicated to the floods.

[crickets]

14. *forehead smack*

I don't know why I didn't go back to the site to look more carefully--or why the phone rep didn't know about that as well. Thanks for the heads up.

I think your suggestion of pinning something at the top of the GD forum was a good one as well.

[dysfunctional press]

7. what about all the leftover stuff donated for katrina that's sitting in warehouses...

waiting to be discarded...? (if it hasn't been already) why not ship that stuff to iowa?

[orleans]

9. i recently put up a thread saying that fema was trying to dump everything

they warehoused for katrina in this place in texas because the guy who owns the warehouse wants to tear it down. fema was only going to keep cots, diapers and pallets of water bottles.

i kept thinking everything we bought, packed, sent to help ... did anyone ever get it? or did fucking fema keep it from everyone we intended it for?

our neighborhood raised money for the red cross and then i remember reading that they were cutting off help to these people. it was horrible.

[trotsky]

12. Red Cross.

They have boots on the ground. They may have some administrative costs but no one does it better.