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June 12, 2008

Charities Grill FEMA Over Distribution of Hurricane Katrina Relief Supplies

Louisiana nonprofit groups are wondering why they were never offered any of the $85-million in supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency stored for two years before giving them to federal and state agencies, reports CNN.

The supplies, which were deemed federal surplus, included buckets, boots, cleaning supplies, tents, camp stoves, clothing, plates, and utensils. Some were donated by companies and some were purchased as starter kits for the people FEMA housed in trailers after the storm. The items were offered first to federal agencies, including prisons, the armed forces, and the postal service, then to the state governments. Louisiana passed on taking any of the supplies.

“We didn’t have anybody out there who told us they wanted it,” says John Medica, director of the Louisiana Federal Property Assistance Agency.

But Martha Kegel, executive director of Unity of Greater New Orleans, says that “these are exactly the items that we are desperately seeking donations of right now: basic kitchen household supplies.” She says she first learned about the existence of the surplus items from a CNN reporter. “FEMA, in fact, refers homeless clients to us to house them. How can we house them if we don’t have basic supplies?”

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