What NOT to do for disaster victims

[puppymommo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close puppymommo]

Tom, thanks for your service and information.

Here in the St. Louis area one of the malls that is related to a mall in Joplin is holding a drive: clothing toys and books, diapers, baby food and formula, soap and shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Given the magnitude of the Joplin devastation, do you think any of these items would be helpful? My teenaged DD wants to hold a drive at her school and take the items to the mall. This is her first spontaneous desire to help and I hate to shut her down. But I also hate sending useless items to a disaster scene.

Thanks,
Susan

[Jeanne Sz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jeanne Sz]

Important to listen to local requests

Some of the items may be welcomed. Here in Minneapolis, the Salvation Army requested donations of items such as baby and children's clothing, personal care items (soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, etc.), bottled water, baby formula and baby foods, and small toys and books to occupy small children in shelters. A local TV station set up a receiving area, and also had volunteers manning the phones to accept monetary donations.
Up here the officials on the scene emphasized the importance of donations to the Salvation Army and Red Cross.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

In the wake of the Alabama, Joplin, MO and Oklahoma, OK tornados, it's probably a good time to bump this topic once again. In brief, please don't start a clothing drive for Joplin or Oklahoma City. Rather, help out locally, and send cash if you can.

If you can join a volunteer group that responds to disasters, great. Two good examples: Salvation Army and the Southern Baptist kitchen crew (no doubt they have a more official name).

For the curious, I've not been called out to the state emergency operation center in the past four years, I've only served on our canteen at a drowning and a house fire. I think the parade doesn't count.

With the nearby disasters in Joplin and Oklahoma, we will be quite "thin" if something happens in Kansas.

If I can have one request, please pray for the folks in Joplin. They are dealing with extreme losses and the local resources will be virtually nonexistent. When Topeka Barb and I were blown away in 1988, there were only roughly a dozen homes totally destroyed. That was a completely different situation. We could go the the hardware store and buy anything we needed, and we could rent a big truck to put all our furniture and appliances in. In Joplin, they have nothing.

Tom

Stranger!

Where ya been? How ya and Topeka Barb doing?

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Tom, your volunterism is much appreciated. I heard on tv that a group here in NC was getting a huge truck and hoping to feel it with clothes , food, other things. I hate to hear that so many times people who think they are doing "good" is for fraught.

I am hoping to volunteer for our local food bank. I have to find something that gives me a sense of purpose since I'm not working anymore. shaggy

[dinamae Banned Find all posts View Profile Close dinamae]

Thanks for the advice. I just notice that benefits and the damages are mostly not covered or the insurance settlement did not cover all losses.