kylongspur, if you know a local fund that will directly help people in the area then post it here. Like a local church fund or something. I'd gladly give to a local collection that I knew was responsible and honest. You never know where big national groups are spending your donation money.
I worked on reecovery of the floods along the Missouri and Mississipi river in the early 90s. I saw a lot of good but some bad as well. I think relief groups are under a lot more oversight now and most do a good job. We had people try to run us off so they could do work at super jacked up prices, basically robbing people. We were working for free. My group leaders had obtained semi loads of materials from big companies. They got a rude awakening when they learned we had FEMA officers in our group working with us. One guy pulled in and threatened to pull a gun on us if we didn't get out of his territory, When a plain clothes officer flashed his badge he was suddenly all Mr. nice guy....he still got a ride to town in cuffs. I hope none of this crap still happens.
