The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is urging those who want to help people affected by the fires in California to make cash donations to nonprofit organizations that are active in disaster work. Officials said that cash donations allow voluntary organizations to both obtain goods and services locally and for some to issue direct financial assistance to victims so they can meet their needs. They also allow agencies to avoid the labor-intensive need to clean, sort, package, label, and store donated goods. Donated money avoids, too, the expense of ground or air transportation that donated goods require.
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