Editor’s Note: This story has been revised from an earlier version to clarify the timeline of when donuts were delivered and thrown away.
A local Facebook post alleging that Red Cross volunteers threw out donations of food, medicine and clothing Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center is not entirely accurate, according to both the organization and a spokesperson for the state agency that is actually running the shelter.
Still, the negative publicity generated by the post—which has gotten nearly 105,000 shares and prompted hundreds of irate comments—is causing problems for the Red Cross. The organization issued a press release late Sunday trying to clarify its policies with respect to accepting donations.
According to the post made Saturday by a woman who was volunteering at the River Center, “60 boxes of doughnuts were discarded this morning because the delivery vendor was not in contract (with the Red Cross), hot meals were refused because the entity providing wasn’t contracted, and medical supplies including medications were trashed for the same reason. Clothes that were ‘donated’ needed to be left on the street unless they were ‘furnished’ by Red Cross.”
The woman, Beth Houston, could not be reached this morning for comment.
Red Cross spokesperson Nancy Malone says she cannot speak to what happened at the River Center shelter because is not a Red Cross-run shelter. Rather, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services has been running it, although Red Cross volunteers are helping out and the agency will be taking over from the state later this week when evacuees from Celtic Studios and other shelters are consolidated there.
DCFS spokesperson Catherine Heitman says this morning she is still trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened Saturday, but she says it appears there were some misunderstandings.
Heitman says she has been able to determine that a volunteer donated many boxes of donuts to the River Center before midnight Friday night. Heitman says the donuts were greatly appreciated and that many of them were consumed overnight. However, at some point Saturday afternoon they were thrown away because they had been sitting out for more than 12 hours.
As for clothing, she says the shelter is not equipped to accept clothing donations, and that both the state and the Red Cross have been directing those with clothing to bring the items to designated churches and other drop-off locations that are set up to accept them and sort through them.
Heitman could not speak to whether any medication was discarded, but she says it’s important for those in the community who want to help to understand that, unlike the early days of the flood, the shelters are now well equipped to deal with the needs of those staying in them.
“We are so grateful that on that first day the community wrapped its arms around those in the shelter and responded,” she says. “But we were able to catch up fairly quickly, once our assets were mobilized and we have what we need in terms of medicine, food and water.”
For its part, the Red Cross issued a statement Sunday saying the agency, “does not have the capacity or infrastructure to process items such as food, clothing and medicines, and thus establishes partnerships with local entities to manage these generous donations.”
The statement goes on to say, “It’s important to remember that most relief agencies agree that financial donations are the quickest and best way to get help to the people who need it most. It takes time and money to sort, process, transport and then distribute donated items—whereas financial donations can be accessed quickly and put to use right away.”
As of this morning, 2,817 flood victims are being housed in shelters run by the state, the Red Cross and local governments. That includes 865 at the River Center, 433 at Celtic Studios and 381 at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, as well as 92 in the special medical needs shelter in the LSU Field House.
—Stephanie Riegel
