Updated 9.14.10 8:30am PST: Here is a list of our recommendations of where to donate your clothing to. These organizations, among many others, work to end poverty and family homelessness everyday.
We want to thank you all for supporting our donation drive on behalf of families affected by the San Bruno Fire. Over the weekend our donation locations received a tremendous amount of traffic and bulk in-kind donations. It was such a success that we’ve exceeded our capacity to accept in kind donations on behalf of victims of the San Bruno Fire.
We will continue to accept ongoing diaper and pull up donations for our diaper bank at all of our drop locations. We regret are no longer able to accept clothing and other items.
The Bay Area Red Cross, the City of San Bruno, and local churches all state they no longer need in-kind donations, and are requesting monetary donations. If you would like to make a donation on behalf of the victims of the San Bruno, we recommend you send your monetary donation, payable to:
San Pablo Lions Club, PO Box 242, San Bruno, CA 94066, (reference “fire” on check) — 100% of the funds will go to victims this way.
We are currently researching the most direct and effective distribution channel in order to allocate donations to offer to families affected by the San Bruno Fire. We share many of our supporters’ concerns about donations getting “mixed up” with regular donations, and possibly being sold in the end. Please be assured we are doing everything within our power to ensure this does not happen.
Currently, there is no shortage of people in need in the Bay Area, including San Mateo and San Francisco counties, on an ongoing basis. While a major disaster like the San Bruno fire is often a catalyst for donating, we hope you will consider giving on an ongoing basis – i.e. most homeless families experience loss of devastating magnitude without a manmade or natural disaster occurring. Likewise, many of the families we assist through our partner agencies lack an adequate supply of diapers on a daily basis.
Our plan is to allocate donations in-excess to our immediate partner agencies in San Mateo and San Francisco counties, including agencies like Shelter Network, Homeless Prenatal Program, andBayview Mission. All of our partner agencies offer their services and basic needs supplies free of charge to their clients.
Together with Bayview Mission, HAMO responded to the San Bruno disaster by bringing a donation of 6000 diapers, plus hundreds of other supplies to the San Bruno Recreation Center the morning after the fire, on Friday, September 10, 2010. We were able to address this need because we had the diapers in stock, thanks to the generosity of individual and corporate donors.
On behalf of the HAMO community, we want to thank you for your ongoing generosity to bring diapers to families who really need them. We hope that you’ll keep in touch with us by becoming a friend on Facebook, and/or following us on Twitter.
Thank you to our drop bin partners, Natural Resources, Junior Gym, and Cubes and Crayons for supporting this drive. Please check them out and support local family friendly business!