Helping Fort McMurray fire evacuees: disaster donation dos and don'ts

As people in Saskatchewan continue to gather donations for evacuees from Fort McMurray, officials at the Salvation Army in Saskatoon are reminding donors to only send goods that are going to be useful.

"They may not need a couch today because they're out of their home," Mike Hoeft said.

Hoeft is the emergency and disaster coordinator for the Salvation Army in Saskatchewan. He said they've had a lot of donation-gathering practice over the last six years. 

I have seen, in the middle of summer, people send cross-country skis.- Mike Hoeft, Salvation Army

"Whether that be floods, fires, evacuations, we seem to respond quite often."

Hoeft said their biggest disaster effort came three years ago during southern Alberta's historic flooding. He was based in High River with more than 100 volunteers trying to sort through donations.

"We ended up with about 11 semi trailers full of donations that we weren't using [during] the immediate response," Hoeft said.

While he understands that the majority of people want to help and do something to let the evacuees know they're being supported, Hoeft said the best way to support victims after a disaster is through financial means. 

"If we get a whole bunch of other things, it creates this situation where now we've got to divert volunteers from what they're doing in the response to actually go and deal with the donations. And sometimes that becomes a very big job."

Hoeft said in almost every case disaster coordinators on the ground will be very specific about what is needed immediately. He asks donors to pay attention rather than sending a bunch of random stuff. He has a glaring example of what not to send.

"I have seen, in the middle of summer, people send cross-country skis," Hoeft said. "Those stand out in your mind because you really don't need those right now."