Originally Posted by
Lady Diana
We sometimes believe a quilt is the answer because we are quilters.....Houston is hot and very humid most of the time.....the folks in houston need other things right now. The salvation army is the way to go as far as donations...the red cross could not guarantee a donor's funds would go specifically to Harvey victims when asked last week......
Do not give to Goodwill in the flood areas. IT IS NOT A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. Goodwill is a business. They do not donate. They are not a charity. They are a for profit company owned by the man who started the business decades ago. He is very wealthy. Great name...but it his goodwill.
Donating to quilt guilds is a great idea. Sewing machines, supplies for sewing etc.
Victims will need clothing. That is the one thing that gets left behind to the flood waters.
I had a long comment to post on this, but lost it somewhere, I think when I hit enter while typing. Throughout the South, there are Methodist Women's Groups who maintain mobile kitchens that are prepped and ready to go where and when needed. Salvation Army has mobile kitchens, mobile showers in big 18-wheelers, mobile clean water, and you can choose the area you want your donation to go to. Red Cross would be the last place I would want to give money or items to. Since the floods of 1927 through the midsouth, Red Cross has not had good press with most of my family. That said, the daughter of a distant cousin devoted her working years to them as an RN, later setting up clinics and centers to treat victims of disaster.
Before donating a sewing machine to a group, I would want to be assured that they had access to electricity. I do know there are churches that donate hand operated machines abroad. To a child of the south who was raised without air conditioning, giving a quilt would be like donating a lace hankie to the Congo. I was an older adult before I saw quilts on beds. When I have donated in the aftermath of natural disasters, I felt better knowing the Salvation Army would put the money to best use in the area I chose. I did online searches and read news articles that showed photos of the mobile units in use and schedules of where they were going next.
My sister in Arkansas is still smarting from having her house trashed by the "poor people from Katrina". She was working out of town, so made her home available. The Red Cross put a family of 3 generations up in her home and they did not even take the garbage out of the kitchen or the can to road for pick-up. She learned later that the family had been given a stipend to turn over to her during that time.