Charities, good and bad from a disaster area.

Jstpssng · Mar 5, 2022

RSKY said:
First off let me say that I did not receive any damage in the tornado. One sister had about $100,000 worth but her house was still standing. She is shocked at how much the total has come out to be. And that is with hordes of volunteers descending on her property to do cleanup at no cost to her.

But I talk to a lot of people. So do my sisters and the rest of my family. If you wish to donate to a charity for tax purposes or out of the goodness of your heart here are my suggestions from what I hear and see.

Good: Samaritans Purse is #1. Head and shoulders above the rest. They arrived in town two days after the tornado and crews are still here. They work hard, are very respectful, and did I say that they work hard while seeming to have a good time. Attitude us everything. The Mennonites also showed up a couple days after the event and are still working. They are a smaller group, not as obvious, and worked mainly on getting damaged homes livable and still have a smaller presence here. Bread of Life is a local charity. They are a smaller group but have done amazing work. Their distribution efforts were better organized than anybody else's. If you search Bread of Life several groups will come up but the local one is a Church of Christ group located in Graves County. They were literally first on the scene in events that took place within a hundred miles of here before the December tornado. All of these are groups that are affiliated with religious organizations and use volunteers and donations.

Bad: The Red Cross has received nothing but criticism locally. People have donated to them but nothing has happened. I will have nothing else to do with them. Note that the blood donation and distribution efforts are a completely different organization. United Way has to my knowledge not been here.

Just my two cents worth of advice.

RSKY

I stopped supporting the Red Cross a long time ago, as too much of your donation goes to fund their corporate structure.

Streetcar · Mar 5, 2022

United way is not direct charity. They collect money and distribute to actual charities that do the work.
my experience with Red Cross was from a flood. Red Cross distributed government bought supplies, hung their banners in front of other volunteers and ran clearing house to connect victims with someone who actually helped them. In my limited dealings with them they were very arrogant. FYI I was volunteer cleaning up

I am regular blood diner, but not Red Cross. For platelet donation the machine to draw blood is six figures in cost. Filters and bags are over $100 for each donor

ultrarunner · Mar 5, 2022

Blood Collection changed in that the old way was givers we're tracked with the promise if you or someone you designated needed blood you had credits for your giving.

Remember when mom and her nurses had many many credits some having given over a hundred times and then when a local pastor needed 33 units of blood the hospital workers stepped forward but it was just after the system changed... it did leave some feeling slighted as this was not the deal all the years they had given.

Streetcar · Mar 5, 2022

Ultra runner,
some European countries still have credit system for blood donation.
local dog blood bank uses the credit system.

Streetcar · Mar 5, 2022

sea2summit said:
Salvation Army lost my money just before Christmas but we can't talk politics so I'll leave that.

The red cross is absolutely in the business of making money, just look at their blood theft...I mean donation program. You donate then they sell it to hospitals for a significant amount of money.

I fully concur with supporting the local guys, one of the only good things about facebook is that it makes it easy to check up on how you're money is being used. Red cross pictures of handing out cups of coffee or setting up donation centers. Smaller charities folks out there with saws and hammers getting chet done!

The Salvation Army statement at Christmas was for members only and was misrepresented in the press.
No affiliation with them but like their charity work. I did work next to their Cincinnati office, all were nice people

kenmbz · Mar 5, 2022

United way collects and fund raises, takes a chunk of money and then distributes to other charities you don't get to choose, who also take a chunk.
Most charities can be researched as to how much of each $ actually goes to the recipients.

Charity navigator is useful, and some of their findings are pretty stunning, mostly bad, but some good.

bigtiller · Mar 5, 2022

Life Serve Blood Center is the organization most of Iowa donates blood to. The phlebotomist that drew me last week said they were paid $16 - $18 an hour, depending on seniority.

This is a life saving commodity. It is important to have fresh, clean blood products in house and ready for every emergency.

No matter which blood center is in your area, I think it is short sighted for people to throw shade on such an important non-profit organization.

Jstpssng · Mar 5, 2022

bigtiller said:
No matter which blood center is in your area, I think it is short sighted for people to throw shade on such an important non-profit organization.

I don't like needles. When I did give, they always were surprised at how quickly I could fill a bag. I would squeeze that dowel as fast as I could, just to get that piece of steel out of my arm.
I tried to give about a year ago, but because of minor health issues they wouldn't accept me. I need to talk to my doctor to see if it's OK to give again.

metalbender · Mar 5, 2022

Of the millions of donations the RED CROSS received during and after the big fire that wiped out a good portion of Ft McMurray Alberta, very little was allocated to people affected by the event. All donations go into a central fund that the brass use for ADMINISTRATION. Be interesting to track the lifestyle of the CEO and upper management of the CHARITY.