Local Charities Help El Pasoan Direct Their Donations

EL PASO, TX. – Local charitiestell ABC-7 thatthey’ve been swamped by people wanting to bring in bottles of water and cans of food for storm victims in Louisiana and Mississippi.

However, at least two major charities say what they really need is money charity officials say they just don’t have the resources to take donated items into the disaster zone. They say it’s far less cost-effective to transport the goods from El Paso to the coast.

Additionally, the needs of people on the ground in places like New Orleans and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are so extensive and changing so rapidly that they want the flexibility of cash.

Sandra Armendariz, of the American Red Cross tells, ABC-7 that, “There are a lot of people still trying to give us things like canned goods…unfortunately, we have no way of storing those items…we have no way of sending them to the affected areas, so still financial contributions are the way to go.”

Since the relief efforts are so highly-coordinated, with some crews are responsible for generators, and others for tents, they also say they want to have the ability to take that cash back to the devastated area.

By taking cash to the area, the crews will be doing another type of rebuilding: re-startingthe area’s economy.