Donations should be usable

When disaster strikes, it is often heart-warming to see the generosity of Canadians who express their sympathy (and desire to help out) by donating items they think could help those who were affected by the disaster.
But experts say these items are often unnecessary and become burdensome to relief workers. It is better to carefully think about what are appropriate items to donate to those affected by a disaster.
The Canadian Red Cross feels that providing financial assistance to people impacted by this disaster allows them to make decisions on their own needs at a time of crisis.
The benefits of cash donations are two-fold. They allow people to buy the items they need the most and they promote the local economy.
Right now, the heart of many Canadians are with those who are affected by the disastrous fires in Fort McMurray, especially since these fires still cause a concern and now Saskatchewan crews are on the alert to watch for fires that might enter the province.
With nearly 90,000 people evacuated from Fort McMurray, there are a lot of people trying to rebuild their lives right now. But the problem of unusable donations is one that relief agencies deal with after nearly every disaster.
When people donate by ‘cleaning out their closet’, they are actually making more work for the volunteers who are at relief shelters. We have to remember that right now, none of those who were evacuated can access their homes. Right now, they don’t have a place to keep large household items, or tons of clothing.
In most cases, there are items that are just unusable that get donated, and then those items just sit in a warehouse taking up space. There are also incidents where some donations, while provided in good intentions, are either unusable in another fashion. They are torn, or in a poor condition, or should have just been thrown out instead of donated.
Similar crises across the globe have put relief workers in the awkward position of having to put donations into storage, find a different charity to take them or even throw them out.
Piles of clothing sent to Indonesia after a tsunami in 2004 were reportedly thrown in pits and burned. An estimated 65,000 teddy bears were sent to Newtown, Connecticut after a school shooting and had to be kept in a warehouse.
After Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010, officials were unsure what to do with bottles of breast milk sent by concerned mothers to the island nation.
It is important to support those people who were affected by the disaster, but to also provide them the right kind of support. When you donate, make sure that if you are collecting items that they are in need, and that they are going to the right place.
And remember, there are evacuees who had left the province and are now living with relatives in another community. Their needs can not be forgotten either. We need to make sure that those who were affected by the fire are provided the support they need.