and they still do. They'd never get a dime from me.
A few years ago, my daughter and her hubby (stationed in Corpus Christie) and 3 tiny daughters, one just 6 months old, were under mandatory evacuation due to a hurricane.
They had the van packed and kiddos strapped in when he got orders to get to base and help fly the Navy planes out of harms way.
This left my daughter to make the trek to San Antonio with babies alone.
When she got to the base there, her little ones were tired and hungry and thirsty.
That's when she realized that her husband had the cash and all she had was credit cards...so she went to the Red Cross booth and asked for a bottle of water for the baby.
"That will be $1.00"
She explained her predicament but they refused to let her have water for the baby.
She then got in line to get her reserved room. When she finally got to the desk, she was told her's was the last available room. They were processing when a single gal came up and said: "I'm bi-polar. I have priority!"
And they GAVE HER THE ROOM.
My daughter left the base and drove to another town and got a motel.
NEVER give the REd Cross a dime.
I have heard numerous stories like that about the Red Cross. Maybe at one time they were a good organization, but something went wrong many, many years ago.
After 9/11 the Salvation Army had a special collection and I gave, but adamantly refused to give to the ARC. Turns out the ARC used some of 9/11 “bonaza” to buy, inter alia, new computers for their staffers.
Rats.