Charities stunned as NY disaster funds top 500 million dollars

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Charities stunned as NY disaster funds top 500 million dollarsNEW YORK, Sept 25 (AFP) - Relief groups have been swamped with more than half a billion dollars in contributions for victims of the World Trade Center attack and are now under pressure to disburse the money quickly but wisely.The scale of the giving has dwarfed any previous US relief effort. It has also turned the spotlight on how the huge sums of cash will be handed out and led to fears other worthy causes could suffer a backlash."It has been unbelievable, extraordinary," said Ani Hurwitz, spokeswoman for the New York Community Trust which, along with the United Way of America, is administering the September 11 Fund."What has been so amazing is the speed with which the money has arrived, it has been an emotional outpouring," said Hurwitz. She said that by Tuesday the fund had raised 120 million dollars.The September 11 Fund is just one of a myriad of fundraising efforts that have been swamped by donations since suspected Islamic extremists slammed two passenger jets into the 110-storey twin towers, leaving more than 6,700 people dead or missing.The American Red Cross has received around 200 million dollars, the Twin Towers Fund for fallen firefighters and police officers has raised over 70 million, and a live telethon on major television networks brought a further 150 million.A host of smaller funds set up by individual companies, newspapers, ethnic groups and community assocations have also raised tens of millions of dollars.The donations have poured in from across the country and the globe, from blue chip corporations and small businesses, from rock stars and actors, and most of all from thousands of ordinary people often using the Internet."Normally we get three million hits per week. Every since the disaster we have been getting 1.7 million hits per day," said Debra Snider of Helping.org, part of the libertyunites.org network which has raised 87 million dollars for many funds.And with the money piling up, charities are under pressure to get assistance quickly to the families of the dead or missing.The Red Cross took the lead Tuesday by announcing it had started handing out 100 million dollars to relatives of those killed in the WTC or in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon in Washington on the same day.Under the scheme individual families will receive up to 30,000 dollars each in one-off tax-free grants designed to cover immediate financial needs such as funeral expenses, rent and mortgage payments.The organisation said the unusual measure, which was announced as just 287 bodies had been recovered from the rubble of the WTC, was a response to the scale of the tragedy."What has taken place is extraordinary, and we must respond in an extraordinary way," said Red Cross President Bernadine Healy. "We have never faced a disaster of this size or intensity."The September 11 Fund, which will distribute all donations to smaller non-profit groups, made its first grant of 1.2 million dollars Monday and is studying another 19 proposals, said Hurwitz.She said the fund had been involved in frantic consultations with between 300 and 400 other agencies in an effort to disperse cash quickly and efficiently."It is important to act quickly but we also have to look to the long term. We have to think about many victims, such kids who saw this horror unfold in front of their eyes," she said.So far the flow of donations shows no signs of drying up.The rock stars who performed in Friday's live telethon plan to release an album while Michael Jackson is to record a charity single titled "What More Can I Give". Each project is expected to raise up to 50 million dollars.