Your comments are right on. People do want to help, and in my opinion much of my job was trying to put faces and personal stories to the headlines and lesser known situations around the world. My frustration is that often 'wanting to help' means cleaning out the junk in the closet and garage and sending it to someone who doesn't need it, can't use it, costs more to ship than it is worth, or which harms the locals more than it helps. People then feel like something good has been done for those in need. There is no other way to say it - cash is the biggest help. Just do your homework and send it to a decent charity that is careful about overhead and how it helps folks. http://charitynavigator.org is one site that can help with that. The accepted rule is 35% max overhead, but personally I'd stick to around 20% overhead before I am willing to contribute. One of my friends heard a director of an international aid group who thought it helpful that the people they sent didn't speak the language as that would stop them from being influenced by the locals. Absurd. Your church is the largest of the 36 denominations that make up Church World Service [Gee - you helped pay my salary!] The horror stories have not come from your giving through your church, especially that part that went to CWS. Just about all of our foreign staff are native to the countries we work in and have the contacts and background to know what people need and how to get assistance where it is needed. That matters. During the days Afghanistan was controlled by the Taliban CWS had schools for girls and Taliban approved health clinics for women because our staff were locals and not an 'outside' group coming in. As far as overhead let's start from the other end of things: if you want almost zero overhead drive to a poor area and hand your money to someone who looks like they need it. Overhead is the cost of fuel. If you want people who have spent their lives working to help others and who have college loans to pay off and kids to feed then some reasonable salaries are to be expected. Expertise costs - but not as much as trying to get the job done with untrained help. I'd mention Iraq as an example of that. The half million $ salaries and fancy parties that some organizations are known for don't happen in the responsible ones. One of the things I appreciated about my organization was how flat the salary ranges were. Our regional director made a bit more than I did, and the director of our international organization [based in New York] made less than twice what I did. It is still expensive to have an organization that covers most of the globe, though. BTW, the lowest overhead is still the nuns who do charity work, of course. Can't beat them at that. Those flood relief kits are probably designed from a CWS kit brochure - and we send kits all over the world [but not the ones with the mops...], and the donor is paying for the shipping. I have been in some pretty backwater places and seen health and personal kits stockpiled for emergencies. Honestly, a lot of what it does is let people have a 'hands on' experience that is important to them. Disaster / flood relief cleanup kits are difficult and expensive to ship, and with most of the kits there is a note that says what the value of the kit is and gives an option to send that $ instead so supplies can be purchased locally. Obviously a topic I could go on about for some time, but probably already enough for this forum. BillR
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wonko the Sane Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 8:45 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] Parkersburg IA tornado pics - and a long soapbox rant On a more serious note, I think that when a disaster hits (anywhere) folks want to help but simply don't know how to. Some of the issues you mentioned are nothing more than the result of well intentioned groups and individuals grasping at straws to do *something*. You mentioned having a garage sale and sending money. But to whom do you send the money? Some are reluctant to send money because it is unknown (unless one takes the time to do the research) how much of that money actually gets to those in need and how much is siphoned off as overhead. Sending stuff, even the wrong stuff, is just a gut reaction to a feeling of helplessness on the part of the well-meaning. It isn't that we don't CARE (pun intended) -- we want to SAVE THE CHILDREN. Our local church as been assembling flood relief kits (it must be a Methodist thing -- deathly afraid of water at the time of baptism (use the minimum wetness possible) and that carries through even to social and charitable projects) and I swear that half of the stuff included would be worthless to someone who is suddenly homeless and jobless. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
