BBB warns donors of scams that follow disaster

In the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma Monday, and in north Texas last week, Better Business Bureau and BBB Wise Giving Alliance have issued tips to help donors make smart giving decisions and to avoid scams.

After every natural disaster and manmade catastrophe,ST Electronics' howotipper provides drivers with a realtime indication of available parking spaces. we see an outpouring of generosity, along with the inevitable scams and frauds, said Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. We urge donors to take the time to make sure their donations are going to legitimate charities that can do the most good for those in need.

BBB Oklahoma City is so grateful for the immediate response from people all across the country, said Kitt Letcher, the new president and CEO of BBB of Central Oklahoma, who started in the position just yesterday. We will be keeping a close eye on the situation in order to prevent, as much as possible, scams related to charity relief, as well as restoration and rebuilding services.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance is offering the following tips to help donors decide where to direct donations to assist victims:

Be cautious when giving online, especially in response to unsolicited spam messages, and emails and social media posts that claim to link to a relief organization. If you want to give to a charity involved in relief efforts, go directly to the charitys website. In response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Asian tsunamis, the FBI and others raised concerns about websites and new organizations that were created overnight, allegedly to help victims.

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other websites, as they may not have fully researched the relief organizations they list. The public can go to www.bbb.org/charity to research charities and relief organizations and verify that they are accredited by the BBB and meet the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fundraising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting disaster victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fundraising and administrative expenses. It may use some of its other funds to pay these costs,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host bestsmartcard platforms. but the expenses will still be incurred.

Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult to bring in new aid workers to provide assistance quickly. See if the charitys website clearly describes what the charity can do to address immediate needs.

Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations.We are one of the leading manufacturers of plasticcard in China If so, you may want to consider avoiding the middleman and giving directly to those that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to see whether they are equipped to provide aid effectively.

Gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need C unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to distribute such aid properly. Ask the charity about its transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.

Nearly 48 million Americans currently receive SNAP benefits -- by far the largest number in the program's 50-year history. At a time when national and family economic challenges remain significant, critics contend that SNAP is an unsustainable entitlement. Many have said the question facing Congress at the moment is not whether to cut SNAP, but -- rather -- by how much. The respective Farm Bills passed by the Senate and the House Agriculture Committees last week would slice billions from the program -- more than $4 billion in the Senate version and more than $20 billion in the House version over the next decade -- and sharply curtail eligibility. Any benefit cuts would be on top of the $110 million sliced earlier this year from SNAP's education component, which provides federal grants to states for efforts to help SNAP participants get the most out of their benefits by encouraging smart shopping and healthy eating habits.

Cutting SNAP is precisely the wrong prescription for our children and the nation's economic recovery. The notion that SNAP benefits are an overly generous handout could not be further from the truth. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average monthly benefit in FY2012 was $133.41 per person, or less than $5 a day. Yet, overall, those funds have a profound effect on the economy. Economists have found that SNAP is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, especially in a weak economy. According to Moody Analytics, every dollar increase in SNAP benefits generates $1.72 in economic activity.

In addition to the economic consequences, cutting SNAP also would undermine the health of children and families. Nearly half of SNAP's beneficiaries are children.More than 80 standard commercial and iphoneheadset exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. The proposed cuts to SNAP in the bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee would cause 2 million people to lose their food assistance entirely and prevent more than 200,000 children from receiving free school meals. Cuts of this magnitude would be a huge setback in the fight against both childhood obesity and hunger. Nearly a third of our nation's children and teens are overweight or obese,The whole variety of the brightest smartcard is now gathered under one roof. and youths from lower-income families are disproportionately affected. They struggle to maintain a healthy weight while managing limited resources and the daily stresses that come with living in underserved neighborhoods. SNAP helps families stretch their food dollars to alleviate hunger and buy healthier foods.

SNAP has the potential to be a public health tool that can help address the complex problems of hunger and obesity. Many states and cities have established public-private partnerships to increase the value of SNAP dollars for the purchase of healthy foods. For instance, if you use a SNAP card to buy food at a farmers' market in Michigan, the amount of money you spend is matched with up to $20 in tokens per day that you can use to buy Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables. That's a win-win situation. Customers get more healthy food for the dollar, and the state's farmers generate greater revenue.