Checks given for pledges after Harvey

Charities cite third-party mix-ups as reason behind pledges previously unaccounted for

Several charities active in Hurricane Harvey relief have received muchneeded funding from corporate donors slow to fulfill pledges, including eBay, Pearson and Google.

Several charities active in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts have received much-needed funding after a Houston Chronicle investigation found that some corporate donors had been slow to fulfill pledges.

The nonprofits confirmed receiving checks from eBay, Pearson and Google, whose donations were previously unaccounted for or were still being processed months after the storm hit.

Direct Relief, a national charity that distributes prescription medications during disasters, said eBay has fulfilled its entire $115,000 pledge to the group. Tony Morain, a spokesman for Direct Relief, said the final installment arrived Nov. 10, two weeks after the Chronicle article was published.

Previously, the charity reported receiving $36,210 from eBay.

Pearson, an educational products and services company, pledged $150,000 in matched employee donations to six relief charities. The Chronicle found that five of the six charities could not locate funds from Pearson as of late October.

Scott Overland, a Pearson spokesman, said the company has since paid the pledges in full.

The DePelchin Children’s Center in Houston, a foster care and adoption agency, and the Houston Food Bank confirmed receiving the full amounts promised by Pearson, about $11,400 and $16,400, respectively.

DePelchin said some of the money had arrived before the Chronicle investigation was published Oct. 27 but officials didn’t realize it because it came from a third-party contractor, not directly from Pearson. Large corporations often use such contractors to process charitable donations.

“The article helped us link the donation to Pearson, so that was helpful,” said Mary Kristen Valentine, a spokeswoman for DePelchin. “The donor was really generous to do this, and it was a third-party mix-up, and it’s all clarified now.”

The involvement of third-party contractors also caused confusion about donations from Google, which promised $2 million shortly after Harvey made landfall Aug. 25.

Team Rubicon, a charity that deploys military veterans to natural disasters, confirmed that it received $132,000 from Google shortly before publication of the Chronicle article. Previously, Team Rubicon was one of three nonprofits that said they were still waiting on money from Google.

Matt Scott, spokesman for Team Rubicon, said the organization didn’t realize the money had in fact arrived, because it was from a third party.

A Google spokesperson said the company had finished paying its Harveyrelated pledges by the end of October.

Applying funds

Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children and several other charities, which had previously said they were still awaiting donations from major corporate donors, did not respond to requests for an update.

The American Red Cross, the recipient of the bulk of Google’s Harvey pledges, declined to provide information on the company’s donations, citing the need to protect donors’ privacy.

Charities have begun applying the corporate donations to recovery efforts in Texas.

EBay’s donation to Direct Relief will help more than 50 Texas medical clinics provide medications and cover expenses they incurred after Harvey, “doing excellent work without regard to how they were going to pay for it,” Morain said.

Norman Mitchell, chief executive of the Busy Bee Wellness Center in southwest Houston, said his clinic received medications plus $25,000 from Direct Relief.

The money, he said, helped cover Harvey-related costs, including fuel for a mobile clinic, overtime for staff members who worked around the clock and replacements for laptops and diagnostic equipment damaged during the storm.

“I can’t tell you the amount of individuals who sat and cried because we were able to give them their medication on the spot,” Mitchell said. “You can’t imagine not having your inhaler and then someone telling you, ‘Hang on one second, here’ … Were it not for that donation, we would not have been able to do what we did.”

‘Need for rebuilding’

Scott said Team Rubicon will put the Google money into its effort to rebuild 100 homes in the Texas Gulf Coast region, which will begin in the spring. Team Rubicon is partnering on the project with SBP, one of four charities to receive some of the $37 million raised by Texans star J.J. Watt.

In the past, Team Rubicon focused on immediate disaster recovery and could perform only minor home repairs. Now, the charity aims to do more for the long term, Scott said.

“The need for rebuilding support to families affected by disaster is evident today, as disasters are increasing and families struggle with rebuilding years after a disaster,” he said.