http://www.boston.com/dailynews/295/nation/New_York_state_sets_up_Web_sit:.shtml

New York state sets up Web site to coordinate donations for victims of Sept. 11 attacks

By Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press, 10/22/2001 14:56

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) The state attorney general's office opened a Web site Monday where donors can research charities collecting money for victims of the World Trade Center attack.

The site www.wtcrelief.info lists about 180 organizations that have registered with the state agency and includes information about their financial filings and their goals.

''It is not for this office to tell the charities how to spend their money. It is up to the charities themselves to make that decision,'' Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. ''But it is up to this office to reinforce the public's trust that the funds will be spent well.''

Charities can use the site to identify unmet needs by tracking what others are doing, he said.

Charitable relief funds already have paid out millions of dollars to meet immediate needs such as rent and food for families victimized by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Spitzer said, but nearly $1 billion remains.

The number of victims of the Sept. 11 attack is still being calculated and range from children whose parents were among the 5,000 killed to workers who lost office space.

Spitzer said a second, private Web site is under construction that will list victims and what they have received. Modeled after a site established for the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, the site will not be accessible to the public.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001