The same bunch of politicians that made hay of Katrina, but it is all Bush's fault.
BTW, FWIW, most of the money raised in the September 11th telethon did NOT go to the people in need.
In 92, I worked with a gal that had come from Red Cross. She had been making 6 figures there, and told me that whatever she could get in contributions, she made a 10% commission. She specifically worked at contributions from large corporations.
Easy to blame a charity for slow response. What about people bearing some responsibility for their own situation?
How much have those cities paid in taxes over the last five years and what is their government doing besides blaming the RC?
I have had direct and personal experience with the Red Cross in a major disaster. They are vultures. I’ll never give them another penny.
Salvation Army provides almost all of their money to the people who need it and as soon as they can.
Here is a brief rundown of why I don’t like the Red Cross and will not support them.
1. RC will set on the side lines until a federal disaster declaration is made. Why? That triggers their FEMA reimbursement contract. That’s right. RC won’t help until they get paid by FEMA.
2. We fed 1500 people a meal for 4 days on our own. With the federal declaration RC swept in to take over our mess hall. Somehow all the well fed happy people had been fed wrong. Did you know you can’t move a roasted chicken from the oven to the serving line exposed to air? I don’t know any other way to do it.
3. They attempted to condemn relief kitchens at churches piled high with packaged food donations. I suspect they wanted to take the food.
4. They would not help with cots in shelters unless they could take them over. Again... FEMA contract reimbursement
I could go on but no need. NO RED CROSS for me. Local efforts were our best relief. Just people who were OK helping people who were not OK. There are private charities who know what to do and how to organize. So do business leaders and so do just people who need to step up and do something.
The same politicians that are “so” concerned about their cities that bumbling Mayor Bumberg pumps $1.1 million into the political campaign of the anti-gun, union-backed Democrat running for the House in....Florida.
I was paying for some items in a Dollar General store yesterday when the clerk asked me if I would like to donate to the Red Cross for Sandy disaster relief. “Not Today” I replied.
In the weeks following Katrina, our office volunteered to help the Red Cross by giving out $250 per person, limit of 5 to a car at the Airport. Needless to say, every car that pulled up had 5 people. That is $1,250 per car and we did this all day long. I don’t recall how many lines there were but there were at least 10 going at once. Some car loads looked like bunches of gansters - scarey. I don’t know how many days this went on but I know a lot of money was given away. Granted the money was a big help to some during that time of crisis but I know people were abusing the Red Cross help.
If we learned one thing from 9/11, it is that New Yorkers are ungrateful slobs.
America owes them nothing. Let them wallow in their sewer unaided from the outside. Let them stew in their own rancid political juice.
Screw ‘em
There are problems with the Red Cross.
1. They disburse funds as they desire, and do not always expend them for the purposes they were donated for.
2. They vastly overpay their executives
3. For many years the Red Cross refused to allow Israel’s relief agency to join. The Arab Red Crescent organization was welcomed with open arms. Even as he Red Crescent ambulances were used for quasi-military purposes, the Red Cross never had a problem with the Red Crescent.
4. After 09/11/2001, within a matter of hours the Red Cross launched a nationwide effort to solicit funds. They were very successful, raising the better part of a billion dollars. And then the families waited and waited and waited... Upwards of a year after the event, some families had not been helped by the relief efforts. The Red Cross had a massive sum of funds from the donations, and had still not disbursed it.
I swore off donating to the Red Cross. I will donate funds to the Salvation Army. They have a very good reputation.
Even then, donations should be made to local charities, places you know. In the event of a national disaster, I would trust my fund to the Salvation Army. They have low overhead. They don’t “GAME” events to solicit massive donations, then shift those funds elsewhere. They silently do their good works.
Give your donations to local churches and The Salvation Army, instead.
Friend in graduate school worked as a trainee at the Red Cross for one summer - said she would never donate money to them again because of the waste she saw - extravagant offices, etc - much more spent on administrative goodies than on services to the needy.......