AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Generous donations continue to flood into the Texas Panhandle Chapter of the American Red Cross to help aid fire victims. But there's been questions coming into our newsroom on how that money is being used. In talking with people from the local red cross chapter, they say there's a lot that goes into a major disaster recovery. Right now, they can't disclose the amount of assistance they've given or the donations they received. That's mostly because generous donations continue to come in. But they say there's a lot involved with distributing that money to fire victims, like damage and other assessments. It's treated on a case by case basis to make sure donor dollars are being spent the way they were meant to be spent.

"We sent out trained volunteers once we were allowed to go into the locations to verify the actually damage, and that really is part of ensuring donor dollars are being spent as they were intended," said Susan Ginn, Director of Development at Local American Red Cross Chapter.

"We are going to meet with them because in doing the case management financial assistance is only a piece of that picture. That assistance maybe something that they're going to need, but not all of those affected by the wildfire actually need that," said Ginn.

While the local red cross chapter has been helping those victims with their immediate needs like food, shelter, clothing, and mental and emotional health, they say they also pay for supplies, emergency response vehicles fuel and training to make relief efforts possible on this level. Right now, the local chapter says it's in what's called a "recovery phase", and we all need to understand it's going to take some time.

"There will be enough funds to take this disaster all the way through the recovery phase. We don't anticipate that phase this really going to be wrapping up until maybe the 1st of June. So this is going to be a long process of working with people," said Ginn.

The local chapter is encouraging fire victims to stay in contact with them. Often times, victims don't and they have no way of calling those who need assistance. They add, if you still need assistance to call them at 806-376-6309. The local chapter is also able to get victims in contact with other organizations in town offering help like new beds and other essential items.