Good Katrina advice: Don't Bring Your "Crap"

Alexander the Average, a blogger and new group member at Intel Dump, offers some very good advice in his blog, Don't Bring Your "Crap":

Too often donations efforts become the excuse to get rid of shit that you don't want. This just slows down the process. Volunteers have to sort through a mountain of crap to get what people really need. If you're not sure, then give cash.

How true. I see news reports of folks donating huge stacks of god-knows-what stuffed into large plastic garbage bags and I have to wonder. Are we really helping Katrina victims or just dumping a bunch of trash on Louisiana? It makes people feel better to give tangible goods. It gives them the comfort of knowing what they are giving, but in reality they are just making a lot of work for other people -- and potentially contributing to the debris problem in the disaster zone. I know I'm still trying to find a good way to donate cash to help Katrina evacuee students.