20
THE EXAMINER
Business
Monday, October 3, 2005
NONPROFITS
KENT ALLEN
Capital charity
How many volunteers?
The federal government is having a hard time documenting how many members of its civilian work force have temporarily dropped their regular work to contribute time to the hurricane relief efforts. “The number could easily be in the thousands,” said Butch Kinerney of the public affairs office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “But I can’t even give you a ballpark estimate.” Nor could FEMA’s parent, the Department of Homeland Security, though Kinerney was able to rattle off a number of agencies — Census, Treasury, Customs Service — that he knows have workers helping address the crisis. DHS has reported that 72,000 “unified federal personnel” have been assigned to assist, yet nearly all of that number are military or National Guard. Meanwhile, hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians are still waiting in the wings. As of early last week, for example, the Department of Commerce reported that only 15 of 693 employees who have volunteered their names had been “activated and sent into the hurricane area.” FEMA acknowledges that the process of administering the vetting and assignment of federal government volunteers has not been smooth. “In some cases,” Kinerney said of the Commerce figures, individual agencies “may have better ways of tracking” volunteers than FEMA does.
Noah Berger/Bloomberg
A Red Cross truck sits outside St. Mary’s Cathedral on Sept. 7 in San Francisco.
Tony Cenicola/NYT
When aid runs dry
Local agencies scramble for resources
BY PATRICK RUCKER Examiner Staff Writer
QUICK FACTS
■ FEMA estimates that Hurricane Katrina put 300,000 families out of their homes. ■ The American Red Cross has raised nearly $1 billion — more than twice all other charities combined.
Some local charities serving hurricane evacuees living in the Washington area are struggling to aid both these newcomers and the locals who have long relied on their help. In Fairfax County, donations of canned goods and used clothing have been depleted as social workers scramble to keep up with 500 families in need of help. “Our food pantry is pretty bare right now,” said Sarah Ince, spokeswoman for Reston Interfaith, one of three private agencies called upon by the county to help refugees from the disaster. United Community Ministries in Alexandria, another contracted agency, is using county funds to hire a Hurricane Katrina caseworker, but otherwise is using its existing budget to help storm victims.
“We are really struggling with a lack of resources,” said Cheri Zeman, executive director of United Community Ministries. “But we’ll just keep cutting the pie into thinner pieces.” About 6,000 displaced people from the Gulf region are now settled in the metro area, aid workers estimate. Around 1,200 of those are in Fairfax County. Of the 250 people from the Gulf Coast once housed at the D.C. Armory, only about 50 have yet to be settled into long-term shelter.
Here to stay?
Right now, Interfaith is helping displaced people meet immediate needs — shelter, food and clothing — but they are expected to soon make use of the agency’s other services, such as job training, child
care and counseling. “Probably some people will want to go back, but others will want to stay here,” Ince said. “Many of those will have some post-traumatic issues, mental and emotional needs.” Serving these lasting needs will require more money than many agencies have in hand, activists said. That’s a challenge, Zeman said, since the first burst of national generosity went to agencies like the Red Cross — invaluable at a time of crisis but less equipped to deal with long-term needs. “Hopefully we are going to see giving continue on a local level,” she said. “We need that money to be flexible in the way we help people.” In an affluent metro area of about 5 million people, local residents should be there for agencies trying to comfort a few thousand Katrina victims, said Chuck Bean, executive director of the District’s Nonprofit Roundtable. “This is one of the wealthiest regions in the country and the biggest catastrophe in our lifetime,” he said. “We should be able to help.”
prucker@dcexaminer.com
Backpack ties
Project Backpack is building personal connections. Launched by a Bethesda family shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the program enlists kids to fill and then send backpacks of school sup-
plies, toys and books to other kids displaced by the storm. At least one such effort has apparently reaped a pen pal relationship. A Maryland father reported that a few days after his daughters, who attend Wood Acres Elementary School, sent off a backpack, a 9year-old who had relocated to Houston wrote a letter of thanks, putting one of the daughters “over the moon.” “Like everyone, we have sent off our checks to the Red Cross, which are hopefully doing some good,” the parent, Jonathan Scott, wrote in an e-mail relating his story. “However, it is so gratifying to know that our kids also made a direct connection with someone in need of help and cheering up. ... It offered a valuable opportunity to talk to them about ... the importance of helping those in need.” The project reports that 20,000 backpacks have been prepared. Information on the project can be found at www. projectbackpack.org. Got a nonprofit or volunteer story? Send it to allendnkk@rcn. com.