zozee

Mercychefs.com is an organization that has mostly volunteers but a small number of paid staff so they can operate 24/7/365. THey are in Tx now serving up to 20,000 hot meals a day to victims and first responders.

Jeanette Frantz

If I am hearing and remembering correctly, the Houston area is comprised of more than six million people. Almost all of those people will be impacted in some way by the winds, rain, flooding and tornadoes spawned by Harvey. I cannot begin to imagine what it's like to try to help all these folks. It is a massive undertaking. Our prayers are for all of the people of Texas who have been and are being impacted by this massive storm.

Kelly_Y

Thank you. I'm one of the lucky few who had only manageable leakage and no flooding/power loss. I'm trying to get in touch with my local guilds right now to see what quilts or supplies are needed. Charity raffles or auctions may be the best course at this stage as we've still got a lot of flooded or damaged roads making getting things into Houston difficult to impossible depending on location.

Mitty

This is not correct. Goodwill is a 501(c)(3) organization, which is the same as the American Red Cross. I assume the Salvation Army is also 501(c)(3), but I couldn't actually find where it said that on their site (I didn't spend more than a couple minutes looking at each organization's website).

A 501(c)(3) organization is (according to the IRS website https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-pr...rganizations):

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operatedexclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with Code section 170.


When you read things on the internet and one person is saying one thing and another person is saying another thing about something FACTUAL, please just look it up yourself to find out who is correct instead of trying to decide based on who makes the better argument. In other words, don't believe me about this just because I said it, GOOGLE IT YOURSELF.

Edited to add: Emphasis all in the original from the IRS website

sushi

Thank you, Mitty, for clarifying the status of Goodwill. (Whew ... I've given them a LOT of stuff over the years.) We should all be careful to verify statements rather than assuming they are correct.

cashs_mom

Thanks, Mitty. You are so correct about not just believing everything you read on the internet.

sprice

The Red Cross was very good to my daughter when she was burned out of her apartment in Atlanta but that was 10 years ago. Things do change. I was very pleased to hear that my Project Linus chapter will be sending a donation from here in VA. I'm off to work on a baby quilt right now!

sewbizgirl

Samaritan's Purse is trustworthy and great place to send financial donations. They will be used as you intended. They are usually first on the scene of any disaster to offer assistance and relief.

Pennyhal

Thanks for the reality check and suggestions. I can't imagine starting over from nothing.

tropit

I would like to add...Please don't forget the many people who have also recently lost their homes due to the the wildfires in California. I don't know the exact demographics, but I'm guessing from the areas in trouble that many of the people displaced are seniors. I'm sure that many of them they would appreciate a quilt. IE: don't stop your quilt donations, just because the disaster relief in Texas has requested cash.

~ C