Relief Costs Exceed $31-Million Raised by Charities for Flood and Fire Victims

Charities have raised at least $31.3-million to help the victims of the recent floods in the Midwest and wildfires in California.

Much of that figure comes from the American Red Cross, in Washington, which has raised $26-million toward its disaster-relief fund to put toward the estimated $30-million it says it needs to respond to current, large-scale relief efforts since April 1.

Most of the $26-million will assist flood and tornado victims in the Midwest, but some will also pay for relief efforts in California related to the wildfires and in Southern states following tornadoes and flooding.

Last month the Red Cross said it had depleted its disaster-relief fund and had to borrow money to pay to move volunteers and supplies across the country to help with what Michael Spencer, a spokesman for the charity, calls “silent disasters.”

Donations are coming in to build the disaster fund back up, but Mr. Spencer anticipates that with the threat of hurricane season, it’s still not enough.

“Right now we’re responding to 30 large-scale disasters across the country, and we count on that disaster-relief fund,” says Mr. Spencer.

“We’ve got the flooding in the Midwest, we’ve got the tornados that hit Nebraska and across the country in Oklahoma,”he says. “We also have flooding going on in West Virginia, we’re responding to the wild fires in California.”

About 879,152 acres of land has been burnt in more than 2,000 fires, which began in June with lightning storms. About 100 homes have been destroyed, according to California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Mr. Spencer says the Red Cross is worried that it might not have enough money to handle the challenges that are typical of the next few months.

“The busiest part of hurricane season is just ahead for us,” he says. “We have to have a healthy disaster-relief fund for hurricane season. We’re very concerned about that. We need about $80- to $100-million just going into hurricane season because of the volunteers and supplies that we have to move before a hurricane hits.”

Little Publicity

Other charities also say they are struggling, in part because disasters like the floods have not received a lot of attention in the news media.

Scott Sundberg, director of communications at the Mennonite Disaster Service, in Akron, Pa., says lack of news-media attention for the Midwest disaster is a key reason many organizations didn’t raise more money. The Mennonite Disaster Service has raised $37,400 so far.

Among the other donations raised and distributed by nonprofit groups:

• America’s Second Harvest, in Chicago, has raised $72,000 in cash and distributed almost 1.5 million pounds of food and grocery products, some of which was donated by corporations and food banks in areas that were unaffected by the disasters. The group estimates it will spend about $200,000 providing food, water, and groceries to disaster-ravaged areas.
• Catholic Charities USA, in Alexandria, Va., has raised $56,000 to help victims of the flooding.
• Direct Relief International, in Santa Barbara, Calif., has dipped into its inventory of $60-million in medical supplies — which it typically uses to provide aid overseas — to assist California citizens. The group distributed 35,000 particulate masks to neighborhood groups, shelters, and in high-traffic commercial spaces at the peak of the fires to help people avoid breathing in anything that could damage their bodies. The group raised $5,300 for flood relief, although it did not solicit money for this cause.
• Farm Aid, in Somerville, Mass., has raised $66,000.
• Feed The Children, in Oklahoma City, has raised $67,000 for victims of the floods.
• The Humane Society of the United States, in Washington, has raised more than $250,000 for disaster-relief efforts.
• The McCormick Foundation, in Chicago, has raised $465,000 with the Neighbors in Need 2008 campaign. The foundation pledges to match the first $1-million raised with 50 cents on the dollar.
• Network for Good, a Bethesda, Md., nonprofit group whose online-giving site allows donors to contribute to any charity, has raised $5,750 for flood relief and a very small amount for the wildfires, which went toward the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity.
• The Salvation Army, in Alexandria, Va., has raised almost $4-million for flood relief. Most of that came from a $2.5-million grant that the Lilly Endowment, in Indianapolis, awarded in June to assist storm victims. The group has also raised approximately $8,000 toward relief for the fires in California.
• The United Methodist Committee on Relief, in New York, has raised about $96,000 for the floods and $86,000 for the wildfires in California.
• The United Way of East Central Iowa, in Cedar Rapids, has collected $120,000 for its Flood Recovery Fund.
• World Vision, in Federal Way, Wash., did not actively solicit money to provide assistance to victims of the flooding in the Midwest but did raise about $20,000, and delivered $57,000 worth of relief supplies, such as personal-hygiene products, toys for displaced children, and cleaning items previously donated by corporations.