NORWICH – After narrowly avoiding the brunt of Hurricane Sandy, Chenango County residents might be looking for ways to help with relief efforts, both locally and for the East Coast that was ravaged by flood and fire. Several county figures are stepping in to guide those looking to lend a helping hand now that the storm has passed.

To help those most impacted by the devastating storm, county emergency officials are advising locals to veer away from donating physical items and instead, donate money to appropriate emergency management agencies like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross to help fund relief efforts.

“We all see the devastation in other areas and we want to help. As a result, kindhearted people begin organizing donation drives for food, clothing and other items,” explained City of Norwich Emergency Management Officer A. Wesley Jones in a letter sent yesterday to area businesses and non-profit administrators. “I can tell you from experience that in disaster after disaster, there just isn’t the ability to deliver these types of goods directly into the hands of those who need them,” the letter stated.

According to Jones, items like clothing, toiletries – even toys and some food – were largely donated after other natural disasters in recent years, including Hurricane Katrina that devastated the New Orleans area in 2005, and more locally, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011. “Everybody just wants to help,” he said. “But what you don’t see on TV is the warehouses that have to be rented to store all this stuff.”

In many cases, donated items sit for long periods of time before they’re eventually hauled away to landfills. Jones said the best way to avoid this unfortunate scenario is simply to make a monetary donation. “There are already mechanisms in place to get help to people in a much more efficient manner,” he said. “It is much better to provide cash donations to an organization that has years of experience and systems already in place for getting help directly to people.”

The Chenango County Red Cross has already stepped up relief efforts for areas impacted by the storm. Red Cross worker Michael May said the disaster agency is already planning a possible deployment of a Disaster Action Team to the East Coast.