Tweet
DISASTER RELIEF
Cash preferred to aid Jamaican storm victims
South Floridians are reaching out to Jamaica's victims of Hurricane Dean, but relief groups say that monetary donations are critical to disaster recovery.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 30, 2007
Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL
nmcneal@MiamiHerald.com
function PopupPic(sPicURLx, sHeight, sWidth) { var sPicURL = "/news/broward/v-morephotos/story/219742.html"; y=Math.floor((screen.availHeight-sHeight)/2); x=Math.floor((screen.width-sWidth)/2); window.open(sPicURL,"slideshow","width="+sWidth+", height="+sHeight+",top="+y+",left="+x+",scrollbars =auto,resizable=yes").focus(); }
CANDACE WEST / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Lauderdale Lakes Deputy HL Coleman sorts through donations for Jamaican storm victims.
A week and a half after Hurricane Dean pummeled Jamaica's southern countryside, South Florida leaders are still organizing relief shipments to the island, but they're asking that future donors consider giving cash, not canned goods.
Locals have filled baskets and boxes with donated flashlights, diapers, tinned tuna and construction materials. Relief organizers say they are grappling with the best way to get the many packages out of churches, government centers and civic headquarters to Jamaica.
''The middle gap from dropoff to packaging for shipment is the challenging point,'' said Barron Channer, a board member of Jamaican Diaspora Southern United States, an expatriate group that aids the island. ``It's the final leg we are closing in on.''
Channer's group, working with the Jamaican Consulate General in Miami, helped to organize dozens of dropoff points, many in Broward and Miami-Dade. A few freight companies have agreed to store the goods, but his group is still arranging shipments.
Channer hopes to have all the goods shipped within two weeks.
Food for the Poor, a charity based in Coconut Creek, has delivered 120 containers of food and emergency relief supplies to the hard-hit Portland Cottage area, but still prefers to receive cash.
Disaster consultants agree.
Too often, donated medicine is expired, used clothes are soiled and canned goods recalled or dented, said Suzanne Brooks, director of the Center for International Disaster Information, a nonprofit resource group that aids disaster areas. It is a part of the United States Agency for International Development.
It's expensive to warehouse goods as they wait for shipping, and hard to find people to tote the goods to the warehouses, Brooks said.
Brooks points to relief efforts following Hurricane Gilbert, the 1988 storm that caused $5.5 billion worth of damage in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Television images of washed-out homes and ravaged buildings spurred caring folks to donate tons of food and clothing.
Three hundred containers were sent to Jamaica with no arrangements to have the goods picked up. And 40 percent of the donated clothes had to be burned because they were soiled, or simply of no use, like winter coats.
''Our hardest problem is Miami,'' Brooks said. ``There are so many immigrant groups who have close ties to home and want to help out, but they need to know the best way how.''
Food for the Poor spokeswoman Ann Briere said they can make the best use of cash.
``We have relationships with businesses to get the best items, and we are on the ground so we know exactly what people need.''
Cash preferred to aid Jamaican storm victims
South Floridians are reaching out to Jamaica's victims of Hurricane Dean, but relief groups say that monetary donations are critical to disaster recovery.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 30, 2007
Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL
nmcneal@MiamiHerald.com
function PopupPic(sPicURLx, sHeight, sWidth) { var sPicURL = "/news/broward/v-morephotos/story/219742.html"; y=Math.floor((screen.availHeight-sHeight)/2); x=Math.floor((screen.width-sWidth)/2); window.open(sPicURL,"slideshow","width="+sWidth+", height="+sHeight+",top="+y+",left="+x+",scrollbars =auto,resizable=yes").focus(); }
CANDACE WEST / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Lauderdale Lakes Deputy HL Coleman sorts through donations for Jamaican storm victims.
A week and a half after Hurricane Dean pummeled Jamaica's southern countryside, South Florida leaders are still organizing relief shipments to the island, but they're asking that future donors consider giving cash, not canned goods.
Locals have filled baskets and boxes with donated flashlights, diapers, tinned tuna and construction materials. Relief organizers say they are grappling with the best way to get the many packages out of churches, government centers and civic headquarters to Jamaica.
''The middle gap from dropoff to packaging for shipment is the challenging point,'' said Barron Channer, a board member of Jamaican Diaspora Southern United States, an expatriate group that aids the island. ``It's the final leg we are closing in on.''
Channer's group, working with the Jamaican Consulate General in Miami, helped to organize dozens of dropoff points, many in Broward and Miami-Dade. A few freight companies have agreed to store the goods, but his group is still arranging shipments.
Channer hopes to have all the goods shipped within two weeks.
Food for the Poor, a charity based in Coconut Creek, has delivered 120 containers of food and emergency relief supplies to the hard-hit Portland Cottage area, but still prefers to receive cash.
Disaster consultants agree.
Too often, donated medicine is expired, used clothes are soiled and canned goods recalled or dented, said Suzanne Brooks, director of the Center for International Disaster Information, a nonprofit resource group that aids disaster areas. It is a part of the United States Agency for International Development.
It's expensive to warehouse goods as they wait for shipping, and hard to find people to tote the goods to the warehouses, Brooks said.
Brooks points to relief efforts following Hurricane Gilbert, the 1988 storm that caused $5.5 billion worth of damage in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Television images of washed-out homes and ravaged buildings spurred caring folks to donate tons of food and clothing.
Three hundred containers were sent to Jamaica with no arrangements to have the goods picked up. And 40 percent of the donated clothes had to be burned because they were soiled, or simply of no use, like winter coats.
''Our hardest problem is Miami,'' Brooks said. ``There are so many immigrant groups who have close ties to home and want to help out, but they need to know the best way how.''
Food for the Poor spokeswoman Ann Briere said they can make the best use of cash.
``We have relationships with businesses to get the best items, and we are on the ground so we know exactly what people need.''