I remember very well the same situation when Andrew in 92. Water, food and all kind of clothing were under the sun and water getting spoil and melting away under no supervision,Right after Kratrina's desvastation a Miami radio station collected 2 trucks loaded with toys.TOYS! give me a break We need to be more realistic under this circustances

Quit sending clothes and start sending stuff we can use, construction supplies, nails, sheetrock, lumber, we have no where to put the clothes until we can rebuild, the media is ignorant to this plight and unfortunately it just adds to the debri piles, along with plastic water bottles littered all over the land.

this is very dreadful. my family is suffering in pakistan from a very sever cold. i am in saudia and i could do nothing for them as they are all outside shevering in cold without tent and medicine or enough food and blankets to save their lives... so i need the direct help of someone... khalid

I think it is very touching that so many people have reached out and have donated so many items. My husband and I made some basic needs donations. I dropped them all off at our CT National Guard faciltiy. Our governor has coordinated this relief effort for (2) wks. I was amazed by the out pour and generosity of people in CT. I think the govenment officals were very over whelmed liked everyone during Katrina. I recommend some church groups may be able to help coordinate some of this distribution with the Red Cross volunteers. It's a very frustrating situation for everyone. There are also alot of colleges that are coordinating relief efforts. My sister is a Chaplin at Converse University in Spartensburg, SC. She coordinated a mission trip with students from Converse and Clemson Unversity and some church volunteers. They traveled for 12 hours to Maiterie, LA. The did a variety of various duties. In the future a college mission trip could be helpful in distributing clothes and organizing them or whatever it may take to help everyone future needs.

I have held paid staff positions with the American Red Cross and organizations benefiting the homeless on local, national and international levels. The thing we need to recognize here folks is that “donating” is not a time to clean out your closets. If you would not use it, don’t donate it. Only donate items you would like to receive…no exceptions. I can’t number the boxes that I have seen that nonprofit organizations have had to incur the cost of disposing of because someone “cleaned out” their closet and decided to donate the items instead of disposing of them themselves.

Just because someone is in need, doesn’t mean they need what you don’t want.

Yes there are clothes everywhere. (I'm in Jackson Co on the other side of the state). I can say too that I didn't get any clothes because we didn't need them (and I'm not going to take away from the ones that do need it). My friends who lost evertyhing got a few things for themselves then also got boxes of clothes delivered to my house! We are all so grateful for the donations, help, and prayers people from around the world have given to us! Like someone said before, some people don't have the room for anything other than essentials because they are still living in tents and many people have moved away (I'm honestly surprised at how many homes are for sale right now).

Please don't critisize us until you've been here. We are getting what we need. (trust me, everyone I run in to I try to make it a point to find out how they are and if they need anything as I am more than willing to take people to get stuff!) Again, we are all so thankful and proud to have everyone help us!

This country is rich in soul and in hearts yet we lack the understanding of others to seek out the good in them. The clothing is a small part of what they are facing yet you all's comments sugguest that they are rich..Well perhaps they are not just in soul.
Think about it.

Where can I send actual needed items such as fabric softener, etc? I want to make sure it will get to where it's needed.

I'm was in "The Bay" 2 weeks after Katrina hit. At that time, survivors and volunteers and yes, even the government was too busy with the daily activity of surviving to take time to sort clothes. But......we all thank you so much for sending items, money, people and love. We were so taken by the show of love and support that even after 10 weeks we still are overwelmed by all of you and your concern.

I assure you,I live a block from the Exxon that the cloths were dropped, there wasn't a day that families were not shopping for clothes.This is a problem that grew over time, the people who dropped the clothes were dropping them illegally on the proprety. If they would have dropped them where volunteers were working, it would have been a lot more efficient. As for the people with comments that aren't even from here, keep your comments to yourself . We are having a hard enough time getting our lives up and running again.

What has happened with these donations it is more than half a year later I would like to know. With a concern for others and meaning no disrespect I hope you realize how much you all mean to all of us. I agree that sometimes people are not very mindful of their actions and that using Katrina as a way to get rid of unwanted items is not helpful. Better to hold a rummage sale and send the money! Or make something from the fabric and sell it! So I would love to know what happened because being a recyler myself some see a mess I see an opportunity to be real creative. I just attended a wedding where the women who had an dress that I admired made it out of some material intended for furniture it was bueatiful and that kind of creativity could make something bueatiful with those clothes.

Those of you complaining about the failure of government to manage this STUFF (Stuff Thats Useless For Folks) have no idea how much of this STUFF just shows up, a report makes a statement that a little boy needs a T shirt and 10,000 boxes of T shirts show up from Firefighers, EMS workers, Civic Clubs, Church organizations and well meaning people... There is no coordination with anyone on either end, STUFF just comes and comes and comes.... Tons and Tons of it... So before you and your group send that T shirt to that little boy... make sure it is needed or it will end up as more debris that needs to me moved, burned or buried in the over filled landfill! The local govenments are busy trying to get the basic needs met, not set up a clothing distrubution point on racks set up by color and sizes...

I can put an end to this discussion. As a volunteer guided only by a desire to help the TRULY needy, my friends and I worked at that corner in Waveland where this picture was taken. We started cooking meals there one week after Katrina hit and fed upwards of 3000 people per weekend. (including FEMA, Red Cross, etc) The locals that got food from us said they needed other supplies like clothing, tents, diapers, air matresses, etc. Only through the heart felt generosity of people back home in Alabama did these wishes come true. Yes, in the end some weeks later other individuals showed up and dropped off mounds of clothing --- but only after we had left that location. I assure you OUR clothing was neatly hung on racks we built on site by volunteers that were there. In the end, I believe a lot of what you see in this picture was removed by the corp of engineers. Until then, the site was visited on a daily basis by locals and they appreciated everything that was available. Honestly, if you were not there helping in the relief of this devastated area, I don't see where anyone has the right to criticize the willingness of others who were only trying to contribute in some small way. Basically, if you were not there, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!!

I was there in Waveland & Bay St. Louis the week following the storm working with our church's ministry team. We fed thousands of people on a daily basis (our mobile kitchen is still located in the region providing meals to this day almost a year later) and even ministered in music to Waveland just a few weeks after the storm to uplift their spirits. When they came to us for help, most wanted ice, water, diapers, formula, hot meals and medical help to which we were able to provide through donations from all over America. There were tons of clothes at the drop site in Covington, LA, too. And what could be used at the time was used. Anyone was allowed to take what they needed when it came to clothing. But just as the previous comments stated, when you have nowhere to put anything, including sheltering the generous donations, you do the best you can with what you have. If you weren't there, you don't know what horrific things people had to endure to survive the aftermath and the back breaking work that went into digging through, organizing and handing out donations. How can you justify sheltering boxes of clothes and toys from the elements when there were families living in the woods with no shelter at all, and nothing but a tarp roof over their heads if even that? Priorities people...priorities. Reading some of these rude comments made by those who think they have the solution to solve everything was disheartening. To think that you'd lash out at the victims of this storm or at those who were trying to help for the shape the donations were in at that point is ridiculous. Why is there always plenty of blame and judgment to pass around but never enough understanding? Sometimes a picture isn't worth the thousand words the media puts with it.

Hands of mercy,is an orphanage home,located in Ghana Africa.we please if you can help us with used choths for our Ghana home.we has 21kid at our costody.hoping to hear yours respond