Town of Darrington, WA (hit by the mudslide last week) is accepting BTC donation

[530relief]

The link is here: town.darrington.wa.us/landslide.php. We have set up a Coinbase account that is in the process of being attached to the official donation bank account. For right now, all BTC will be stored there until transfers are worked out, so donations will be subject to fluctuations in value. The only person with access is my friend, who is the son of one of the main relief coordinators.

If you have any questions please let me know below. For those who haven't heard about the news, you can learn more here: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Photos-Outpouring-of-support-for-530-landslide-victims-252314421.html

[Beliathon]

If all their computers are buried in mud, what use will Bitcoins be ?

Shouldn't we be donating mudslide recipes instead?

[crazynoggin]

That's actually pretty awesome that they are accepting Bitcoin donations. My heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy.

[Peter R]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

[counter]

thanks alot for bringing this information to all our attention.  I've not been following this story as much as I probably should have.  last I remember their was some pretty significant loss of life.  

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

Yeah confirmation of legitimacy is always nice in situations like this.

[franky1]

The link is here: town.darrington.wa.us/landslide.php. We have set up a Coinbase account that is in the process of being attached to the official donation bank account. For right now, all BTC will be stored there until transfers are worked out, so donations will be subject to fluctuations in value. The only person with access is my friend, who is the son of one of the main relief coordinators.

If you have any questions please let me know below. For those who haven't heard about the news, you can learn more here: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Photos-Outpouring-of-support-for-530-landslide-victims-252314421.html

i agree its a bad thing to have happened and i feel sorry for all those families, but isnt home insurance and FEMA going to cover the costs. along with state taxes which pay for rescuers salary?

the floods that affected southern UK for months has caused more physical damage, yet the UK can handle it. i would love to see a list of the stuff that governments/insurances wont be paying for to see if its worth a donation.

after all isnt that why tax and insurance is paid.. to look after people in bad times?

[530relief]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

I completely understand your apprehension, I've been around the BTC community long enough to know that people are wary of fake charities. The best confirmation I can give you is that the link is on the official town website. I did not set this up. My good friend is from Darrington and is the son of one of the main project coordinators. He went through a lot of hoops to get this link on the official site. He is working on getting the coinbase account linked to the main bank account (so we can have direct USD conversion), but Coinbase ignored requests to help us speed the process up. For now, he controls the keys, so you do have to trust him. Just know this is a very small town where everyone knows everyone. If he ran off with funds they would know (considering he had to contact the mayor to get this on the town site). And I would be very pissed at him. He just wants to help the town.

[coinyear]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

I also sceptical.

[cosmofly]

what a scam

[franky1]

i still wait for responses

rescuers are paid a salary, whether sat in an office or knees deep in mud
volunteers do it for free, hense called volunteers.
hospital costs are the same whether you had a car accident or injured due to mud
the clear up is paid for using taxes (budgets of the environment, transportation and emergency services/agencies)
houses are insured.

so tell me unlike haiti which isnt really as developed with government services. and where thousands were affected. what are the actual non paid for items, that these couple dozen households have.

[530relief]

i still wait for responses

rescuers are paid a salary, whether sat in an office or knees deep in mud
volunteers do it for free, hense called volunteers.
hospital costs are the same whether you had a car accident or injured due to mud
the clear up is paid for using taxes (budgets of the environment, transport and emergency)
houses are insured.

so tell me unlike haiti which isnt really as developed with government services. and where thousands were affected. what are the actual non paid for items, that these couple dozen households have.

From the town site:

"Through your overwhelming generosity and kindness, the Darrington Community has received adequate supplies of food, water, and clothing.

At this time, those affected by this disaster would benefit most from monetary donations to cover needs, including housing, transportation and medical expenses.

Alternatively, gas cards, gift cards and auction items would be very helpful.

Your compassion is appreciated beyond measure. We sincerely thank you for providing resources critical to our recovery."

You can decide whether or not these people are worth a donation. But saying that giving donating doesn't help is plain false.

[franky1]

i read that, but like i said.. its all covered already.

the state provides emergency shelter, the housing insurance pays to rebuild their house.

as for food. if a person is in a disaster or not in a disaster. thy eat the same 3 meals a day. unless all ATM's and banks were under the mud, then peoples money has not disappeared... they can still go to mcdonalds. (over restaurants are also available)..

healthcare insurance covers medical bills. its not like mending a broken legs or doing a few stitches are outside the scope/experimental procedures that healthcare wont pay out on. also again the state department/FEMA etc can get involved.

so far there are 16 survivors. so i cannot see big "costs" involved. especially when obama has given $50k for these 16 people over the next few days.

personally i do feel the up-most sympathy for what those families are going through. but i cannot see where the financial necessity is. its more emotional support they need.

[530relief]

i read that, but like i said.. its all covered already.

the state provides emergency shelter, the housing insurance pays to rebuild their house.

as for food. if a person is in a disaster or not in a disaster. thy eat the same 3 meals a day. unless all ATM's and banks were under the mud, then peoples money has not disapeared... they can still go to mcdonalds. (over restaurants are also available)..

healthcare insurance covers medical bills. its not like mending a broken legs or doing a few stitches are outside the scope/experimental proceedures that healthcare wont pay out on. also again the state department/FEMA etc can get involved.

so far there are 16 survivors. so i cannot see big "costs" involved. especially when obama has given $50k for these 16 people over the next few days.

personally i do feel the up-most sympathy for what those families are going through. but i cannot see where the financial necessity is. its more emotional support they need

Fair enough, thank you for the sympathy.

[JoelKatz]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

I also sceptical.

The link is on the town's website. So if it's a scam, someone in the town's IT department is in on it or someone hacked their web site.

[530relief]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

I also sceptical.

The link is on the town's website. So if it's a scam, someone in the town's IT department is in on it or someone hacked their web site.

Thank you. My friend had to call the town IT guy and get him to update the site while he was on a flight. This is a tiny rural mountain town. Everyone knows my friend. If he ran off with the funds he wouldn't be able to go back to the place where he was born and raised. Likewise, if he hadn't been from Darrington there is no way that link is getting put up.

[heunland]

I just donated to this cause using my Coinbase account. To all those calling this a possible scam, I say I am willing to take that chance, considering I may be really making a difference for some people in great need right now. Down here in Mexico where I live, disasters like this happen every year and the government relief agencies often never get to those remote communities that really need the help. The people suffering from this particular disaster probably will get some help from the government, insurance etc. eventually, but this may take a long time and a lot of red tape till they actually see any of that money, while they need the help right now! So I hope some of you are willing to join me and donate even a little bit, or if you don´t feel comfortable please donate to another worthy cause, preferably with Bitcoin! 

[Lohoris]

as for food. if a person is in a disaster or not in a disaster. thy eat the same 3 meals a day. unless all ATM's and banks were under the mud, then peoples money has not disappeared... they can still go to mcdonalds. (over restaurants are also available)..

This is nonsense, cooking your food at home can be orders of magnitude cheaper than buying it at a restourant.

[mycoin25]

How can I confirm this is legitimate?  It looks OK, but I am always suspicious of 0-activity newbie posts asking for donations (no offence!).

I completely understand your apprehension, I've been around the BTC community long enough to know that people are wary of fake charities. The best confirmation I can give you is that the link is on the official town website. I did not set this up. My good friend is from Darrington and is the son of one of the main project coordinators. He went through a lot of hoops to get this link on the official site. He is working on getting the coinbase account linked to the main bank account (so we can have direct USD conversion), but Coinbase ignored requests to help us speed the process up. For now, he controls the keys, so you do have to trust him. Just know this is a very small town where everyone knows everyone. If he ran off with funds they would know (considering he had to contact the mayor to get this on the town site). And I would be very pissed at him. He just wants to help the town.

So charities must prove that they are legitimate!

[DannyHamilton]

Seems rather likely to be legitimate to me.  I'll make a small donation.  If/when I get further confirmation of legitimacy, I may make a larger donation.

[Peter R]

Seems rather likely to be legitimate to me.  I'll make a small donation.  If/when I get further confirmation of legitimacy, I may make a larger donation.

Well if Danny Hamilton is donating, they I am donating too.  

That was the first donation I'd made through Coinbase.  I guess I was still logged in on this computer so when I clicked the "donate" button, a Coinbase window popped up and asked if I'd like to donate 0.02 BTC, I said "OK" and 1 second later I got an email saying I had made a payment from my Coinbase account.  Very slick!  

Despite what some people say (Coinbase controls your private keys), I think Coinbase is a great service for things just like this.  Just remember to store most your funds offline!!


@ 530Relief:

I think if you can get it mentioned in the media that you are accepting bitcoin donations, this puts people at ease.  Like Danny said, normally I donate a lot less than I might if I *knew* the charity was legitimate.