I just got disturbing word from my sister in DC. A college classmate of another sister lost everything in NO. She, her mother and some relatives evacuated. They still don't know where the rest of the relatives are.
The woman is in Houston. She went to the Red Cross office and asked for aid and was told there wasn't any!!! She was crying out on the street and a policeman gave her $100.
When my sister related this, another sister got on the line to the main office in DC (where my family is). She was incensed and said that she knew the RC was getting donations left and right and that they had money. A nice guy told her that the friend should have gotten a debit card for food, hotel, and spending money. Long story short, he gave her advice for the 'right thing to say' to the RC in Houston, what not to say to FEMA, etc. One of the things he advised was for her not to say she had evacuated herself, but that she was brought in on a bus. If she wasn't on a bus, she would get aid after everyone else.
This conversation started after I made some mention of not giving money to the RC. My sister went off like a maniac, recounting this poor woman's experience and her own experiance w/the RC main office. She is thinking of telling the DC media but is trying to find a way not to 'out' this guy who helped her.
Everyone who needs aid should get it as they present themselves to an agency. They shouldn't have to think of magic words to get it and they shouldn't have to go to the end of the line just because they were resourceful enough to get themselves out of town. Count my sisters and this other woman (who happens to be a newly graduated doctor and will have a job and money one day), as more people who will never donate to the RC again.
I haven't donated to the RC in years,,,,never will again...
WHAT???????
Good report.
Bump hard.
What on earth is wrong with the Red Cross? I have heard so many accounts of this organization's idiocy, it's a wonder they stay in business!
Hope your sister's friends and their family are okay.