Charities confident funds will end up in right hands

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

To give to the September 11th Fund, send donations to the United Way of New York City, 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016.

The outpouring of public donations in response to terrorist attacks last week has been so overwhelming, the charities receiving the donations have not yet determined how the money will be distributed, a spokeswoman for New York City's top disaster relief foundation says.

"People have a right to know how all of the donated money is going to be spent," said Ani Hurwitz, spokeswoman for the New York Community Trust, which with the United Way of New York has collected $89 million nationwide through its September 11th Fund.

"I can tell you ... we will be accountable," she said. "People are concerned that the money they are donating will go to the victims, and we are very concerned that it does."

The New York Community Trust, which oversees 1,500 funds and has more than $2 billion in assets, has, along with the United Way of New York, waived its administration fees for the September 11th Fund, which was established to receive financial donations from across the country.

And while no single disaster czar oversees all of the money that is being donated to agencies in the wake of the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., Hurwitz said the New York attorney general and other oversight officials are carefully monitoring what happens to donations.

The Community Trust and United Way will set up a distribution committee in the coming weeks to ensure that the resources are effectively deployed in both New York and Washington, Hurwitz said.

The fund has the endorsement of the Council of Foundations in Washington, which is coordinating national efforts on contributions. The Nevada Community Foundation and United Way of Southern Nevada are partners on local efforts.

Garth Winckler, longtime president of the local United Way, which oversees 60 Clark County agencies that run 144 programs, agreed, "it is too soon to say" how the estimated $5 million to $6 million raised in Las Vegas will be spent in New York.

"This is an unprecedented disaster in America that will have both short-term and long-term needs to address," he said.

"I imagine officials in New York will split the money to deal with both of those levels -- short term, to take care of the immediate needs of families that lost the breadwinners, and long term, to address counseling for victims and others who witnessed this tragedy."

Charity officials nationwide have predicted that the money raised for terrorist attack victims and their families will be the largest ever, exceeding donations from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and damage caused by major California earthquakes in 1989 and '94 and hurricanes like Hugo in the late '80s.

But donations in the hundreds of millions of dollars could be dwarfed by damage that is expected to run into the billions of dollars.

How much has been raised so far nationwide is an educated guess or pure speculation, New York officials say.

"We have no clue how much has been raised through charity events across America," Hurwitz said in response to reports that place the figure at $200 million or more.

"Today I got an e-mail from a woman in Pennsylvania that says she is having a bake sale and will us send the money raised. How do you get a handle on all of these kinds of events going on all across America? If someone says he has a reliable number on what has been donated, I'd like to know how he got it."

New York Community Trust plans to send out its first grants from the disaster relief fund sometime next month. However, Hurwitz said, checks will be cut now for any New York agency in need of immediate funding.

"We have to be careful how we spend this money, because there will be a lot of state and federal funds coming in," she said, expressing concern that donated money be used for services that state and federal dollars don't cover.

One of the problems the New York agencies have faced with donations is that so many of them have been designated specifically for the families of firefighters and police officers who died, which could limit funds available for other victims.

"We realize they are the heroes, but we are telling potential donors that there are many other people in need," Hurwitz said.

Of the more than 5,000 people missing and presumed dead, a few hundred are believed to be firefighters and police, according to published reports.

"I got an e-mail from a woman who is about to have her health benefits canceled, she has three kids, no job and her husband is missing. Lots of people have lost their jobs. The World Trade Center night shift maintenance was laid off. These people also need help to put food on their tables."

Hurwitz said despite all of the money coming in now, there is sure to be a lack of funds down the road, because the public's gifts, along with previously budgeted funds, will be spent in response to the current crisis.

"Essential New York services like those that deal with city schools, AIDS and other nonprofit programs could face substantial deficits because of the money that will be spent to address this disaster," she said.

New York agencies that deal in direct cash assistance will concentrate initially on rent assistance, tuition payments and funeral expenses to those in need, Hurwitz said.

Counseling related to mental anguish of victims and witnesses who saw people leap to their deaths off the burning tower will be addressed on both a short-term and long-term basis, she said.

"There is going to be a great need for counseling especially for children," she said. "My own kid was at school in Brooklyn and watched the plane crash into the building. He was traumatized."

To increase donation sources and options, a number of websites have been set up to take donations via credit card.

Hurwitz warned, however, that one website operator, not associated with the New York Community Trust, linked that agency's website to his site. Hurwitz, who reported that incident to authorities, said her agency does not accept donations over the Internet.

The United Way of New York, however, does accept donations at its website.

Relief officials in the disaster areas and throughout the United States have been asking well-meaning people who have donated blankets, socks and other items to stop, because they are running out of room to store them.

No matter how much money is raised, New Yorkers will carry some of the scars of the terrorist attack for the rest of their lives, and no act of charity will change that.

"You can see it as you take the subway into work," Hurwitz said. "The minute you come out of the tunnel (into Manhattan) it gets real quiet and people start crying.

"It's horrible, just horrible. I received an e-mail from a woman whose mother worked at the World Trade Center and is missing. She writes that her 4-year-old son keeps asking her when they are going to the train station to pick up grandma."

archive