Donations to Turkey and Syria

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Sorry if there has already been a thread on this today but I've been out and about.

However, well meaning people on my street in London are collecting donations of warm clothing, toiletries, nappies, blankets, everything you might need in a crisis which will be driven on landrovers/vans to the earthquake zone.

Aibu for understanding that this is less helpful than donating money to the Red Cross and other charities on the ground who can buy these much needed items much closer to the emergency area and get them to people in need quicker?

What is the point in transporting all these things from so far away? Turkey and Syria are surrounded by countries with all the resources necessary if someone else can just pay for them?

Or am I misunderstanding?

Tricky one. People like to feel they are doing something concrete but yes, in fact money would do more good as more flexible. The only exception seems to me if people have a personal contact and would be going anyway but it's a hell of a drive!

But what if the shops are collapsed the infrastructure might not be there to bulk buy new clothes or whatever. And people want to help. A Turkish shops owner near me did a collection and that went to distribution centre.

It's 2600 miles from London. @Mrsjayy OPs point was that surrounding nearby countries could supply more easily.

We had the same thing with Ukraine too. People trying to help but ultimately donating sometimes useless items which are heavy to ship.

It's like we used to say to the kids, if you want to help, check first that it actually will help the other person. Intention isn't magical.

If you want to donate money then the government is match funding donations made through DEC. So a fifty pound donation becomes £100. Even more if you gift aid as well, it then becomes £112.50.

@viques

Thanks, that's helpful to know

There is a Turkish mosque near us, they first of all asked for warm clothes etc and were inundated, and have now asked for very specific items including babies nappies and toiletries.

I suppose (and it doesn't negate the point OP made) that maybe in a CoL crisis maybe people feel moved to do something - anything - they can think of to "help" and they might not have a spare £20 to donate but they might have a coat their child had grown out of, or a spare pair of joggers etc.

Because people have lost trust in donating money to charities? So many have such a small amount going towards actually helping people and most of it lining CEOs pockets.

So this seems like a much more proactive and direct way of helping.

The problem with a lot of these types of collections is they frequently don't get sorted out before they are sent. There often aren't enough people to sort and storage space to store when the donations get to the destination.
I remember this with the Grenfell fire. People would bung a load of clothes they no longer needed into bin bags/carrier bags and those bags were just bunged in the back of a van and driven down to London. They should have been sorted before. Separated out into men's, women's, children, babies etc. Stuff that's inappropriate removed (Grenfell was in the summer so people didn't immediately need thick winter coats and woolly hats).
It will be chaos in the earthquake zones, the same as it was with Ukraine a year ago. They ended up with piles of random and not needed stuff with nowhere to put it and no one to sort it.

To be fair the collection that I was talking about had very specific donation requests which is probably better than any old crap.

@Mrsjayy yes it's much better when specifics are asked for and donated.
But there's always someone who as well as donating nappies and baby coats will say "oh but I have this pram/cot/car seat" too and donate it (ie dump it) at a collection point.
Only donate what is requested or donate money.

Agreed. Money is most useful. That is what we have done, with contributions being matched.

Yeah @Needmorelego was helping with Ukraine donations and as I said any old crap I sorted through so much.rubbish !

Money donations are also useful in that purchasing materials, goods and labour locally helps local economies.

@Mrsjayy my husband did some of the Grenfell donation sorting. I am very curious how much was actually passed on to the residents. They got so much (which is lovely and generous of people) but so much of it was just not needed.

Some just take it as an opportunity for a clear out@Needmorelego

I’m going to be sticking to my usual food bank donations. I feel terribly sorry for those affected but have to prioritise my money for people in our country.

Exactly.

None of us can know what is really needed the most, so money is the most useful, if anyone can spare a few pounds.

Link for DEC donations

Amazon vouchers? That way the local charities can use them for a variety of things. Also amazon vouchers never perish like food or wet clothes.

goodness no. Amazon products are often massively overpriced, and amazon are taking a cut.

Give to Redcross or other direct funds.

This organisation are brilliant. They get shelter and equipment into disaster zones across the world, and are aware of what is needed. My Rotary Club have just donated £1,000 but they accept and are grateful, for individual donations of any size. shelterbox.org/

If you donate through a recognised charity like DEC then your donation can be increased by gift aid if you are a UK tax payer. Why put money into the pocket of a tax dodging US billionaire?

Yes good point - DEC is actually what I donate too. I suppose they could also buy their stuff via Amazon, or their own wholesalers. All this chucking of househould rubbish in bin liners and sticking it in the back of a van is ridiculous really. Our vicar wants to drive some sheep over in a converted horse box. Absolute nutter.