Arlington, Virginia, August 29, 2001 (CIDI) -- As a leader in international donations management, the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) was quoted in a recent article by the Associated Press. The article, entitled Disaster Relief Groups Say Send Money, describes a recently-released guide to educate the American public about an effort to promote responsible giving in response to international emergencies. The guide is being promoted by InterAction, a coalition of relief, development and refugee agencies.

Many of the basics included in the guide were developed under the CIDI program in 1988 after Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica. In a post-disaster evaluation of the level of in-kind donations, David Callahan, then the Center's program director, developed a set of guidelines for public response. He noted that many of the problems with in-kind donations in response to that emergency resulted from cultural, dietary, environmental and other factors that are often misunderstood or overlooked by the American public when responding to international emergencies. In addition, the complications involved in warehousing, transporting and distributing commodities immediately after a disaster can be complicated by shortages of vehicles, passable roads, airport facilities and costs for fuel and transport. The economic impact of massive donations of unsolicited and inappropriate materials have always been negative.

The guidelines developed by Mr. Callahan have been adopted in various forms by a number of professional relief agencies - including the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, InterAction and others. The "Guidelines for Making In-Kind Donations" have always been the cornerstone of the CIDI program.

The CIDI's overall goal is to reduce the incidence of the American public's historically poor practice of collecting inappropriate in-kind donations and offering unqualified volunteer assistance for use in professional disaster relief operations. Since 1988, the Center has handled tens of thousands of inquiries from the American public related to international relief efforts. The Center works to educate the public about appropriate response through education and training.

The CIDI has found that the cash is best message is not often well-received by the public. Distrust of how cash donations to relief agencies are actually spent, coupled with a desire to do something more tangible than write a check, the public often takes an all or nothing approach to giving - either relief agencies accept what I have to give, or I will not give at all.

The American public is among the most generous in the world, giving billions of dollars in cash donations to a host of relief agencies in response to emergencies in the United States and abroad each year. The CIDI and relief agencies hope to channel that energy and caring towards activities that help more than hurt.

Along with Jim Bishop, Director of InterAction's Disaster Response Unit, and Neil Frame of Operation USA in Los Angeles, the CIDI's Director, Suzanne H. Brooks was interviewed.

The article, which was carried by the New York Times and the Washington Post, is available through those and the Associated Press archives online.