Having been involved with Red Cross in my youth and later Emergency Management for a combined 45 years the policy makes a lot of sense. I have worked at many large disasters and also smaller ones like the fire being discussed. Donations in kind are a huge problem and essentially impossible to manage and quite often donated good from the public. Many people with good intentions essentially clear out their closets and the places where the victims go to get help get filled with piles of clothing in differing states of repair and cleanliness, shoes with the problems as clothes but also unatteched so if someone finds s decent shoe that fits they would have to go through thousands of other shoes to find the mate. A logistics nightmare for both the victims and the Red Cross.
The cases where donations of goods help is where a manufacturer or distributor makes donations of new goods in quantity. i recall one disaster in Massachusetts where the local Polartec company donated a very large quantity of new blankets. As to food etc. i recall back in '72 working in the Wyoming Valley of PA where the water was badly contaminated. Anheiser Busch had a brewery start canning pure water and shipping it in in 12 oz cans. First donation was 16 18-wheelers full of water and they kept it coming until the water was drinkable. I can recall a disaster where a large chain donated several truckloads of diapers and premixed/ready to use baby formula. That was useful. However mounds of discarded clothing do no one any good. The Red Cross did the right thing in discouraging in-kind donations.
--- In californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com, Rick Bates <HappyMoosePhoto@...> wrote:
>
> Three injuries (one firefighter) and 60 now homeless. Red Cross rep says they can't accept anything but cash (what the heck?).
>
> Source: CBS 13, Sac
>
> Rick
>
> Tiny iPhone keypad, sorry for typos
>
> On Dec 22, 2011, at 11:39 PM, Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@...> wrote:
>
> > To the ears of a San Francisco resident a.k.a. a resident of "The City" the word "Frisco" is rather annoying and an indicator of an outsider. No true "Friscan" would refer to it as "Frisco" or to themselves or any other resident of The City as a "Friscan". I post this not as a criticism of Jason's use of the expression but merely to point out that he belied his "out-of-townness" by using it and probably caused a few Friscan's on this list to flinch. ;-p
> >
> > Kimmer
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 5:49 PM, Dan Waterhouse <gydanw@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Rick and others--this massive fire is near Alamo Square in the Western Addition of SF, on the western edge of downtown. The Square itself is lined by Victorian residences and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.
> >
> > I was keeping an eye on the news reports regarding this blaze--I'm a fire buff/photographer who lives several hours away from SF. The 13,000 square foot apartment building where the fire started was wood frame and nearly 100 years old. SF was experiencing sustained winds of 20+ mph today, which didn't help with the fire fight.
> >
> > --dan
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Rick Bates
> > To: californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 5:09 PM
> > Subject: RE: [californiadisasters] Frisco fire
> >
> >
> > San Francisco, three apartment buildings burned, 2 injuries, 3 hours to contain and still not allowing investigators in, too hot.
> >
> >
> > I don’t know about any Alamo district, Alamo is a town in the east bay. Plenty of video and a ‘good rip’ as we used to say. Many are now homeless.
> >
> >
> > Source: CBS 13 Sacramento
> >
> >
> > Rick
> >
> >
> > From: californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com [mailto:californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob H
> > Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 4:05 PM
> > To: californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RE: [californiadisasters] Frisco fire
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Frisco Texas?
> >
> > To: californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com
> > From: Fizzboy7@...
> > Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:12:59 -0500
> > Subject: [californiadisasters] Frisco fire
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Five alarm fire burning up several apartment buildings and a school in the Alamo District of Frisco. 20 mph winds are not helping. Fire fighters were just pulled out.
> >
> > Jason
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
> > Read my blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
> > My Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/derkimster
> > Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kim-noyes/9/3a1/2b8
> > Follow me on Twitter @DisasterKim
> >
> >
>
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