Sept. 11 promise overwhelms charity

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The Salvation Army is scrambling to pay some 30,000 household bills for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but many families still are getting overdue notices.

The charity raised $60 million and offered to pay everything from gas bills to car insurance, but its computer system was inundated and charity workers fell weeks behind in payments, said Alfred Peck, the Salvation Army’s New York director of social services.

"We got complaints from families, and we apologize to them because we’re making more grief for them," Peck said Saturday.

Peck said the charity’s computer accounting system was capable of preparing 150 checks a day before Sept. 11. But after the terrorist attacks, the Salvation Army had to prepare 1,500 checks a day for about 15,000 families.

"Our system couldn’t accommodate that," Peck said.

The charity has updated its laser printers and assigned volunteers to field up to 100 calls a day from worried families. With an upgraded check-processing system, the agency expects to be caught up in the next few weeks, Peck said.

Peck said he was not aware of any service cutoffs caused by the problems.

But The New York Times reported Saturday that one widow’s car insurance was canceled and hundreds of families received late notices and had to scramble to keep essential services or prevent blemishes on their credit histories.

"We’ve got all kinds of horror stories," Carie Lemack, president of the Families of Sept. 11 advocacy group, said. "One man got an eviction notice when his rent wasn’t paid."

The charity has sent urgent letters to utilities, credit card companies and others assuring them the bills will be paid.

"People call us and say creditors are saying their bills are late," Peck said. "We contact the creditor and tell them we are responsible for the bill, and in most cases the creditor will say, ‘Fine.’ "