How to Help



Cash Sought To Help Hurricane Victims, Volunteers Should Not
Self-Dispatch

Release Date: August 29, 2005
Release Number: HQ-05-177

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Voluntary organizations are seeking cash donations
to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states, according
to Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency
Preparedness and Response. But, volunteers should not report directly
to the affected areas unless directed by a voluntary agency.

"Cash donations are especially helpful to victims," Brown said.
"They allow volunteer agencies to issue cash vouchers to victims so
they can meet their needs. Cash donations also allow agencies to avoid
the labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated
goods. Donated money prevents, too, the prohibitive cost of air or sea
transportation that donated goods require."

Volunteer agencies provide a wide variety of services after disasters,
such as clean up, childcare, housing repair, crisis counseling,
sheltering and food.

"We're grateful for the outpouring of support already," Brown
said. "But it's important that volunteer response is coordinated by
the professionals who can direct volunteers with the appropriate skills
to the hardest-hit areas where they are needed most. Self-dispatched
volunteers and especially sightseers can put themselves and others in
harm's way and hamper rescue efforts."

Here is a list of phone numbers set up solely for cash donations and/or
volunteers.

Donate cash to:

American Red Cross
1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English,
1-800-257-7575 Spanish;

Operation Blessing
1-800-436-6348

America's Second Harvest
1-800-344-8070

Donate Cash to and Volunteer with:

Adventist Community Services
1-800-381-7171

Catholic Charities, USA
703 549-1390

Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
1-800-848-5818

Church World Service
1-800-297-1516

Convoy of Hope
417-823-8998

Lutheran Disaster Response
800-638-3522

Mennonite Disaster Service
717-859-2210

Nazarene Disaster Response
888-256-5886

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
800-872-3283

Salvation Army
1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief
1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440

United Methodist Committee on Relief
1-800-554-8583

For further information: visit the website for the National Voluntary
Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) at: http://www.nvoad.org/.

FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response
and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also
initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with
state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood
Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

www.fema.gov

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Relevant Pages

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