| Page 2 of 2 < |
Charities Wary on Use of Katrina Donations
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Catholic Charities, which has raised $30 million in its 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund, is setting up a new fund for Rita donors, said John Keightley, senior vice president for planning and external relations. "We recognize that when people were donating September 1 and 2, they were thinking about Katrina," he said.
But if Rita hits the same region, Keightley said, Katrina funds will be used for that storm's victims.
"To make fine distinctions would be difficult if not impossible and maybe meaningless. If it follows the same path, the victims of Katrina are being victimized again," he said.
America's Second Harvest, a network of food banks and rescue organizations that has moved more than 30 million pounds of food into the Gulf Coast region since Katrina hit, has developed a careful plan to avoid running afoul of donors' intent and the law.
"Money pledged and intended or received for Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery between August 29 and September 23 will be solely used for Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery," said America's Second Harvest spokeswoman Maura Daly. As contributions to Rita relief come in, "we are going to set up a hurricane response fund that will cover incremental Katrina costs above our budget of $21 million, and additional hurricane expenses related to Rita and any future hurricanes through June 2006."
Network for Good, the nation's biggest charitable-contribution Web site, posted a new Rita relief site yesterday listing four organizations: the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, AmeriCares and the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Marketing Vice President Katya Andresen said the Web site included the four after verifying that all planned to be active in Rita recovery efforts and would honor any contributions specifically earmarked for Rita.
Meanwhile, "if there are agencies listed on the Katrina page who contact us and say they're going to do work for Rita, we'll make that clear to our donors," she said. "I want to be completely transparent and make it clear where charitable dollars are going."
Other organizations are still trying to figure out what they will do.
The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, headed by former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, issued a statement through Clinton Foundation spokesman Jay Carson: "Presidents Bush and Clinton continue to focus on raising money for the hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced and are suffering as a result of Katrina and their thoughts and prayers are with those people preparing for Hurricane Rita."
