By Will Evans -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST
John Camacho earned quarters over the years doing important things like
making his bed and picking up toys. He occasionally bought himself a
toy. But this week the Woodland 5-year-old donated his entire plastic
container of coins - $32 - to the American Red Cross to help tsunami
relief. His parents also donated, the first time they had given to an
international humanitarian mission.
His aunt and uncle, owners of Sacramento's Skybar Cafe, hosted a
spaghetti dinner Tuesday night for the Red Cross, their first benefit
and a first for many of their diners as well. With so many people
contributing in new ways, America's collective outpouring for the South
Asian calamity has likely surpassed any other international
humanitarian crisis.
It ranges here from a coin drive at Woodland's Prairie Elementary
School to the $1 million joint donation by the Rumsey Band of Wintun
Indians and the United Auburn Indian Community. The tribes said they
will donate to Save the Children and to Habitat for Humanity
International.
"I would like to send the word out to people in the surrounding area to
match the contribution or just to open up their pocketbooks and give
something," Paula Lorenzo, chairwoman of the Rumsey band, said
Thursday.
KCRA Channel 3 raised more than $1 million through a telethon this
week, boosted by a $100,000 donation by the Tsakopoulos family of
Sacramento.
More than $310 million in private U.S. donations has poured in to aid
agencies since Dec. 26, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana
University reports.
Probably the only catastrophe to draw more money more quickly occurred
Sept. 11, 2001, associate executive director Dwight Burlingame said.
Americans gave $658 million in the first 14 days after the terrorist
attacks in New York and Washington, eventually donating more than $2
billion.
Relief agencies note there are other massive tragedies around the world
that don't provoke the same media attention or charitable support as
the tsunamis.
The tsunamis, however, spelled vast, sudden loss for huge swaths of
Asia, played and replayed in high drama on TV, aid agency officials and
observers explained. It also was a natural disaster, not a sticky
political debacle. Americans could easily see themselves in the
victims. The holidays created a charitable atmosphere, while the
Internet instantly translated visceral reactions into online
donations.
While at least one relief group announced it has enough for South Asia
and needs funds elsewhere, local nonprofits are worrying about their
prospects: Will donations for tsunami relief replace giving to homeless
shelters and arts groups?
International relief groups aren't used to this level of generosity.
"It's mind-boggling," said Kris Torgeson, spokeswoman for Doctors
Without Borders.
Many relief groups operate elsewhere in the world, providing emergency
medicine, food, sanitation and shelter.
"Although not as widely publicized and not as graphic as the tsunami,
there are many disasters in - pick the country - Congo, Uganda, Sudan,"
said Sid Balman Jr., spokesman for InterAction, a coalition of
humanitarian groups. "Not everything lends itself to this sound-bite,
video-clip mentality."
Many aid officials credit the media's devotion to South Asia for the
outpouring of support. Long, grueling crises, even when hundreds of
thousands are killed over time, don't capture the headlines and
cameras, they say.
Support has lagged for the fight against the worldwide HIV/AIDS
epidemic, for example, said Burlingame. Systemic poverty or drawn-out
disasters like drought can seem hopeless to donors. Ethnic conflicts
and political warfare can appear too complex.
"Whereas this - people are suffering solely because of a natural
disaster," said Helen DaSilva, of Oxfam America, which has raised an
unprecedented $15 million. "There's no partisanship, there's not a
whole lot of room for interpretation."
With celebrities, politicians, churches, temples and corporations
joining in, "there's been a tipping point that's been reached where
it's become almost a moral imperative to donate to the tsunami cause,"
said Tom Backer, a psychologist who studies philanthropy as president
of the Human Interaction Research Institute.
The number of countries hit helped raise the tsunami disaster to an
international cause. People of many nationalities, ethnicities and
faiths felt the brunt. Their counterparts in America, not to mention
their friends and relatives, felt connected.
Some Americans saw themselves in the tourists swallowed up on beaches.
Others imagined a West Coast tidal wave.
"It could happen in San Francisco," said Michael Perez, after eating
with his wife at the Red Cross benefit dinner.
Many feel personal reasons to give, even without a personal stake. For
Perez it was a stint in Hawaii, which to him seems especially
vulnerable. For Mollie Camacho, mother of 5-year-old John, it's her
"incredible fear of the ocean." For Joanna Camacho, owner of Skybar,
it's seeing entire families wiped out and the thought of her own large
family.
Celebrities are making their donations publicly, setting the pace for
some communities. Steven Spielberg committed $1.5 mil lion to Save the
Children, CARE and Oxfam just after Sandra Bullock promised $1 million
to the American Red Cross.
Despite the overwhelming suffering, Doctors Without Borders already has
signaled that support is needed in more places than just South Asia.
The group, which got $20 mil lion in U.S. donations for tsunami aid,
notes on its Web site that it has enough money to cover its immediate
South Asia response. Instead of earmarked gifts, it is asking for money
it can use anywhere need is greatest - including South Asia.
Doctors Without Borders has sent 150 workers to tsunami-affected areas
but has a similar number in Darfur, Sudan, where more than 1 million
people are displaced.
Restricting donations to a specific region or mission is a growing
trend, one especially pronounced in this disaster.
Janna Tessman of Sacramento went to the Skybar benefit but is holding
off on other donations, leery that the money might not go to tsunami
victims.
Such distrust grew out of the scandal that tripped up the American Red
Cross after 9/11. The organization outraged donors when it planned to
use "Liberty Fund" money for projects other than aid to victims.
Aid groups are not likely to divert money this time, said InterAction's
Balman. "Believe me, everybody has that example in their minds,"he
said.
The question remains whether first-time giving to this disaster will
spur more giving to crises in the future. Donations to international
affairs organizations totaled $5.3 bil lion in 2003, representing 2.2
percent of total giving, according to the annual Giving USA
report.
Meanwhile, local nonprofits may face a funding drop if local donations
are replaced with contributions to the tsunami effort.
At Raley's and Bel Air stores, for example, boxes usually soliciting
donations for local food banks will be used to appeal for tsunami
relief during January.
"Everybody here should be concerned about what this does mean about
individual giving here if - and this is the big if - people who give to
the disaster are giving money there that they will not give here to
local organizations," said Jan Stohr, executive director of
Sacramento's Nonprofit Resource Center.
After Sept. 11, 2001, charities in the Sacramento region saw giving
slip as residents sent money to New York instead, she said.
But in a survey after 9/11, the Center on Philanthropy found most gave
money above and beyond usual contributions.
Regardless, the money stream and appeals for more continue.
"No one should grow complacent," Balman said. "We're just at the
infancy right now of dealing with this disaster."
