Posted on 01/31/2002 2:59:49 PM PST by NYCVirago
The American Red Cross expects to collect $850 million in its terrorist attack relief fund and plans to disburse 90 percent of the money by Sept. 11, 2002, charity officials said Thursday.
The Red Cross already has distributed $490 million to victims' families, people who lost their home or job because of the terrorist attacks, and to disaster-relief services, according to David McLaughlin, Red Cross' chairman of the board.
Former Sen. George Mitchell was appointed by the Red Cross in December to oversee a plan to disburse the final $360 million in the Liberty Fund.
Mitchell said he met with several victims groups, other charity groups, Red Cross donors and government officials to figure out how to best use the money.
The message he received, he said at a news conference, was that the money should be distributed "promptly and fairly."
"There was a strong sentiment that the victims themselves are in the best position to assess their own needs and to choose how best to use the funds in meeting those needs," Mitchell said. Of the final $360 million in the Liberty Fund:
The Red Cross' family gift program provided families of the deceased and those seriously injured with basic living expenses for the first year after the attack. On Thursday, it also announced plans to spend an additional $125 million in gifts of about $45,000 to most of those families, meaning they will receive an average of $109,000 from the Red Cross.
The Red Cross was severely criticized for initial plans to spend some Liberty Fund donations on blood banks, community outreach and infrastructure improvements not directly related to the attack.
In November, the charity amended those plans and pledged to funnel donations entirely to those affected by the terrorist attacks. Some victims groups also said the charity was slow to disburse money and made families fill out too much paperwork.
Mitchell said the Red Cross acknowledged its errors and changed some of its policies.
"Regrettably, the focus on those mistakes has obscured the tremendous amount of good work that was done by the Red Cross to provide care and comfort to those in need," he said.
Mitchell, who is from Maine, has been lauded for his work to broker peaceful solutions to the conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. He said he will continue to serve as the Liberty Fund's overseer for at least one more year and will make a public report every three months.
Lisa Friedman of Woodbury, N.Y., was one of the people Mitchell received input from. Her husband Andrew Friedman had worked in the World Trade Center for less than two months when he was killed on Sept. 11.
Their twin 11-year-old boys are so tall that their basketball coach used to call them "the twin towers," she said.
At the news conference Thursday, Friedman said she approved of the way the rest of the money will be disbursed. It was important, she said, that most of the money was being distributed quickly and with a minimum amount of bureaucracy and that extended family members and people who lost their jobs and homes also were being helped.
"I think the Red Cross demonstrated to all of us their ability to see some of their errors and correct them, and that's great," she said. "Should we hit any road blocks, we can work toward fixing them."
Liz McLaughlin, who lost her husband, Cantor Fitzgerald executive Robert McLaughlin, in the attacks, has been closely monitoring Sept. 11 charities.
In a phone interview, McLaughlin said she was pleased the Red Cross was moving quickly to distribute the money and had "recognized that those families affected by Sept. 11 are in the best and only position to decide how to use the overwhelming donations from the American public to help us through this very difficult time."
And barf alert on Sen. George Mitchell being involved with this!
Leni
The woman who heads the SD chapter was/is the highest paid ($309,000 annually). Moreover, she used the lion’s share of the contributions to upgrade telephone and communications systems---all this while the victims of the fire went without.
I don’t know the airdate but it should be good.
It's free money, isn't it? The Red Cross is still holding the ball.
Okay, I get it now (slapping my forehead!)
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