We had a similar story in 2001 in Austria (and I think in Germany as well). the project was called “Blankets for Afghanistan” (in german: “Decken für Afghanistan”) . they collected (officially) about 150 tons of blankets. that's about 2 1/2 Boeing 767-200 cargo load. they didn't expect so many, and I think some of them are still stored somewhere without going to Afghanistan. it would have been much easier to take (only half of) the money and to buy blankets there… and it would have been much more helpful… also for the region..
but, I think why it was so “easy” to get so many blankets, was the fact, that people had “enough” at home AND that they could “give” something in “material”. and they trusted the person as well, who started the project. ….