How the American Red Cross Says You Can Help the Victims of the Southern California Wildfires

I approached this with the idea that people needed to donate new and used goods and wanted to find out exactly what goods were needed. Instead I found that more hands on interaction is needed than physical goods.

In Merced county, the American Red Cross informed me that they did not have one person show up to volunteer their time. Part of the reason no one has volunteered is because large media corporations like CNN and FoxNews has reported on the large number of volunteers. What they have failed to report is that those volunteers are mostly victims and residents of the area themselves. Local media outlets have failed to report on the needs of the people suffering from the fires as well which has caused a great lack in community support. So if you are living in or near Merced (or other locations), please consider getting trained and go volunteer in SoCal.

The Sacramento chapter of the American Red Cross has had the opposite reaction. They have had a lot of people come in to volunteer. However, they are still in need of volunteers. The Sacramento chapter is hosting a telethon today only, to raise money for the victims of the fires. They are in need of 400 volunteers to man the phones and take money. Volunteers offering to help with the telethon can be spontaneous and do not have to be trained to help with this event. The telethon will be hosted on channel 3 KCRA station until late this evening.

If you can't volunteer your time there are other things you can do but there are some things you should know about making donations.

People are going to be in need of everything from furniture to underwear, but unless you are living in Southern California it's not going to be easy getting those items to people. The American Red Cross and Goodwill Corporation are not able to ship these items plus any donated items would have to be processed and handed out; a process they don't have the capabilities of carrying out. The solution is to donate pre-paid gift cards. This will allow the victims to purchase what they need without having to pick through donations to find the right size shoe or right gender underwear, not to mention gift cards are easy to ship and distribute.

Pre-paid food cards are also an excellent way to help displaced people. Although the shelters and local businesses are providing food, the time will come for these people to find other accommodations and their financial situation will be tight as it is without having to feed their families.

There are some goods you can donate however. There have already been donations of warehouses, empty buildings, employees and the like. These are valuable donations because Southern California is in dire need of storage facilities and hands on assistance. Some of the employees that are being donated are doing the work for free. So if you have a building or employees you can send to Southern California please consider offering those.

If you are in the Southern California you CAN donate new and used personal goods through the Goodwill partnership with the American Red Cross Los Angeles division. Physical goods are translated into vouchers in $10 increments that are handed out to the people in need. Currently this program is only available in Southern California but may branch out at a later date to include other locations. To participate in this program take your physical goods to one of the SoCal Goodwill locations which are listed at http://www.goodwillsocal.org.

Obviously cash donations are best but next to that blood is the next best thing you can donate. Please seek out the American Red Cross closest to you and help save a life.