And while you're figuring out the best way to help out, let me give you some low-key advice and that's to give the Salvation Army a wide berth when it comes to shelling out your cash. Personally, I refuse to have anything to do with the Salvation Army, for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, they're bigots. This isn't even a dirty little secret of theirs -- the Salvation Army has openly discriminated against groups like married women, non-Christians, and gays, among others, for a long time and nothing suggests that's changed recently.
So what, you ask. As long as the money gets there, isn't that all that counts? Well, as it so happens, it's not even clear that the money does get there. From this 2001 American Prospect piece:
The Bush Administration secretly promised the Salvation Army that it would write a regulation protecting it from state and city laws that prohibit organizations from discriminating against gays and lesbians, according to an internal Salvation Army document uncovered by The Washington Post. In return, the Salvation Army vowed, in what it called a "prearranged agreement with the White House," to help Bush pass his controversial religious-based services initiative. The Christian organization has hired a lobbyist and expects to spend $88,000-$110,000 a month to support Bush's effort.
It's that last part that's so eye-opening -- that the Salvation Army was planning to spend around $100,000 a month of money they almost certainly collected under the guise of charitable contributions for lobbying. In short, whether you knew it or not, charitable donations to the Salvation Army were ending up in Republican coffers.
You, of course, can donate your money any way you want. Personally, I'd stick with the Red Cross and tell the Salvation Army to suck it. But, hey, that's just me.
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