Dateline Alabama Other charities adjust to flood of giving for tsunami relief

Dateline Alabama
Other charities adjust to flood of giving for tsunami relief
By JEFF DONN
Associated Press Writer
February 03, 2005
Some charities are working to transform the bonanza of tsunami donors into contributors to programs that relieve other desperate needs elsewhere.

Some agencies have decided to reject any more donations solely for tsunami relief. Some are making appeals to tsunami contributors for other causes here and abroad.

"People are very understanding of the fact that we need to be flexible," says Helen DaSilva, a spokeswoman for Boston-based Oxfam America.

That group, which fights global poverty, closed its special tsunami fund in mid-January. Instead, it is asking donors to give to a fund that supports both tsunami relief and work on other global emergencies.