How individual disaster relief workers can claim a deduction

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

GUILFORD, Ct.–After consulting with the Internal Revenue
Service about how individual rescuers could make their Hurricane
Katrina/Rita rescue expenses tax-deductible, Connecticut Council for
Humane Education/National Institute for Animal Advocacy founder Julie
Lewin distributed to rescuers a three-point plan:
1) Talk to me about volunteering on behalf of CCHE/NIFAA. We
must speak in advance of your trip.
2) Donate to CCHE the amount you expect the trip to cost you
and get a tax deduction for it, thus significantly lowering the net
cost to you.
3) Mail all legitimate receipts to CCHE, which will
reimburse you up to the amount you donated.

“I’m very pleased to have come up with the idea,” said
Lewin, noting that several volunteers had used it. “I hope more
will sign up, as needs in the Gulf states continue. Some queries
have come from folks who wish they had known about it before making
less advantageous arrangements. All I ask for is a self-addressed,
stamped envelope,” Lewin told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
A drawback of the CCHE/NIFAA approach is that it requires the
rescuers to make the cash outlay for their work twice, in order to
claim a tax deduction and be reimbursed once. It accordingly most
helps those who can work chiefly on credit.
Contact Lewin c/o the CCHE/NIFAA at P.O. Box 475, Guilford,
CT 06437; 203-453-6590; <jlewin@igc.org>.