[Dion]

When Helping Hurts: Why You Shouldn’t Donate Physical Goods During A Disaster

Just give money

Unfortunately, in recent years Alberta has seen it’s fair share of disasters. In 2011 a wildfire in northern Alberta forced the evacuation of Slave Lake, Alberta and dozens of smaller communities. In true Canadian fashion the support was enormous and donations started pouring in, but what happened next could surprise you.

“They tried to give the excess donations to local charities, but none would take them. They eventually gave them to a local waste collection company to hand out to local groups. But there were so few takers that the company eventually dropped them off at a landfill.”

During the Slave Lake fire response many good willed organizations and trucking companies loaded up truck after truck with donated goods to be delivered to the community, only to find out there is nowhere to take them. If Calgary was overwhelmed with goods 550km away from Slave Lake, you can imagine the impact on the community itself. No one wants to make the decision to throw away a communities good will.

https://edwardmcintyre.com/2016/05/0...ing-a-disater/

Edward McIntyre, a blogger who has volunteered to help in many disasters in the province, recently wrote a blog post which got hundreds of thousands of hits.

"I was involved in the Slave Lake fires and the Calgary floods and various other smaller disasters that have happened here in Alberta," McIntyre told CBC's alberta@noon on Sunday.

He says often the supply of donations, however well intentioned, is disconnected from the actual need.

"The sheer volume of goods that arrive is astronomical," McIntyre said.

"The reality is in a fire like this when we have lost 1,600 structures, people aren't going to have a place to put a lot these household items for … it could be two years from now."

McIntyre says generosity is admirable but sometimes misplaced.

"The reality is right now, those [physical donations] aren't really needed. They definitely will be in the future but the sheer volume of goods we collect from all of the communities just outweighs the need."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...-mac-1.3572974