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Red Cross cash ‘wasted’ on stars
TIMES OMLINE ^ | March 05, 2006 | Marie Colvin

Posted on 03/04/2006 6:35:20 PM PST by Gomez

THE American Red Cross has come under fire over payments to publicists who recruited stars to add lustre to its image, even as funds ran short for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The controversy could not have come at a worse time for the charity: this Tuesday, it unveils a “celebrity cabinet” of personalities whose glamour will be exploited to attract money, volunteers and donations of blood.

Its critics are unhappy at what they call an inappropriate use of funds. “They’re hoping people will send them money on the basis of celebrity, as opposed to good works and effectiveness,” said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, which monitors charities’ finances.

The Red Cross was reported last week to have paid consultants more than $500,000 (£285,000) in three years to recruit stars, pitch its name in Hollywood and promote its chief executive as the face of the charity.

A New York publicist receives $5,000 a month to lure celebrities and polish the charity’s image in Hollywood, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

A company in California has been paid $114,000 to get the Red Cross included in story lines for film and television, and a Texas firm of image specialists won a contract for $127,000 to boost the profile of Marsha J Evans, the chief executive, a year before she left with a $780,000 severance package.

The Red Cross defends its spending, insisting monthly payments to the publicist Paul Freundlich have been cost-effective. “His efforts have made a huge impact on the American public in terms of increasing financial donations, volunteers and blood donations,” said Julie Thurmond Whitmer, head of the charity’s Washington office.

The row follows a censure by Congress for diverting contributions for the September 11 emergency to other uses and criticism last week from the Senate finance committee, which is investigating the charity’s slow response to Katrina.

Some of the media sniping seems disingenuous, however. How many news organisations would really have sent reporters to cover the Red Cross’s campaign to vaccinate 13m children in Kenya? They did when Jane Seymour, the actress, went along.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: charities; charity; katrina; ngos; racket; redcross
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To: cjmae

modest $80,000 houses


They still exist??? WHERE??? I want one!


41 posted on 03/05/2006 12:03:28 AM PST by JoeSixPack1
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To: Gomez
Every time I go for a business trip in the Tysons Corner area of Virginia, I stay at the Comfort Inn at Springhill Road. That place is always full of Red Cross people. Your donations to the Red Cross are being used for boondoggles to put Red Cross "volunteers" up at a nice hotel and shuttle them off to all manner of "conferences" in the area.
42 posted on 03/05/2006 12:18:58 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: lesser_satan

The UN and the Red Cross are one in the same.

Quick to collect large amounts of cash.

Stagnant and corrupt with funds collected.

End of story.


43 posted on 03/05/2006 3:46:10 AM PST by Emmet Fitzhume (Memo to Al Franken: Read Ecclesiastes 7:9, and get back to me.)
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To: BJungNan

I give to any organization affiliated with Christianity.

Secular organizations tend to be the most self-destructive and deceitful.


44 posted on 03/05/2006 3:47:12 AM PST by Emmet Fitzhume (Nagin is to stupidity as Blanco is to incompetence.)
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To: Gomez

Between the Red Cross and the United Way this sh*t never seems to end.


45 posted on 03/05/2006 4:15:23 AM PST by saneright
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To: Gomez
The Red Cross organization has really gone downhill once they renounced the cross as a real cross...instead it's just a big red plus sign.
46 posted on 03/05/2006 5:29:23 AM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: WasDougsLamb


"******LOL. Seriously though, I think we ALL learned a lesson here."





I know I have,LOL


47 posted on 03/05/2006 7:31:15 AM PST by RedMonqey (People who don't who stand for something, will fall for anything.)
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To: highlander_UW
The Red Cross organization has really gone downhill once they renounced the cross as a real cross...instead it's just a big red plus sign.


I guess it now represent making blood money. off the dead and dying?
48 posted on 03/05/2006 7:40:15 AM PST by RedMonqey (People who don't who stand for something, will fall for anything.)
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To: All

Here is a link you can use to get some info on charities. It's not perfect, but it helps.

http://www.give.org/


49 posted on 03/05/2006 7:44:18 AM PST by nh1
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To: caryatid; Emmet Fitzhume

I think I'm going to follow your and Emmet Fitzhum's advice and donate to a Christian organization.

Of course when I gave to the Red Cross, that's what I thought I was doing.


Thanks to the posters on this board, I know better....


50 posted on 03/05/2006 7:48:19 AM PST by RedMonqey (People who don't who stand for something, will fall for anything.)
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To: Gomez

Between this Red Cross reminder and the "Catholic Charities" thread, EVERYBODY shouls use this tax season to review the politics of the "charities" they support.

We have a responsibility to know where our money is going and the work it is supporting!


51 posted on 03/05/2006 7:48:49 AM PST by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: xarmydog
Being a broke, tired, private stuck in an airport,we had to go somewhere.There was usually a Red Cross room with fresh coffee,doughnuts,etc.None for you if you didn't have money.At least they let us sleep on their couches.I dislike the red cross.They got a lot of their donations from Military,yet cant part with cup of joe and a doughnut?I know this is a true story.

I've told this story here before, but my Uncle was going to be shipped off to the Pacific during WWII, when he got word that his mother was ill, and not expected to live. He requested emergency leave through the RC, and was told "no way." The chaplain suggested he try the Salvation Army, but when he told the chaplain he was Jewish, he was told that it wouldn't matter. When he contacted the SA, they not only were able to get him is emergency leave, but they made the travel arrangements for him. He was able to see his mother before he left for the Pacific.

Until his dying day, he swore he would NEVER give a cent to the RC, and he gave quite generously over the years to the Salvation Army.

Mark

52 posted on 03/05/2006 7:52:28 AM PST by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
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To: Gomez

SALVATION ARMY gets a donation today.


53 posted on 03/05/2006 7:58:31 AM PST by zeaal (SPREAD TRUTH!)
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To: lesser_satan
The Red Cross has become too big to be effective.

Yep. Any time an organization gets to the size where teh chief executive is insulated from failure, rather than the greatest victim of it, it's functionally doomed.

Note the Red Cross, United Fund, large auto and auto components companies, and major airlines all have a dynamic where the more money they blow, the more money their out-of-touch top execs get.

Delta Airlines, for instance, wants to cut the salary of its Comair subsidiary's flight attendants from almost $40,000 to $19,000 a year on average. The money will go where the employees' share of stock went: into the pockets of CEO Glenn Tilton, who has "earned" hundreds of millions by driving his company (and many of its employees) into bankruptcy.

The Red Cross is adept at fund-raising and self-perpetuation, and it spends most of its time, money and effort on those two goals, and secondarily on the comfort and pleasure of its senior execs.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

54 posted on 03/05/2006 8:03:38 AM PST by Criminal Number 18F
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To: Nova Reservist; GOPJ

Same here....my WWII vet dad talked about the Red Cross charging for donuts and coffee in the combat zones.
My Vietnam vet brother saw the same.

A MUCH better route I found for my Katrina donations are faith-based groups that are sending volunteer teams to the Gulf Coast to actually rebuild homes, businesses, churches, etc.
These folks moved in quickly with food and clothing donations...and are still going back, swinging hammers, clearing debris, and helping set things right.

They (obviously) are not getting much MSM publicity, but ask around...I'll bet there's some group in your town doing this. I know of a Catholic group, 2 Baptist churches and a non-secterian group doing this from my city...and no, they are not helping only their co-religionists.


55 posted on 03/05/2006 8:05:49 AM PST by CarolTX (Onward through the fog)
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To: GOPJ

"Had an uncle who said the Red Cross did the same in W.W.II. -- charged the men for coffee and doughnuts. Creepy."

Sure is. and You could say it's a little saying, that something like that is knocking a guy down a peg when he is least able to handle it. plus, it is an indicator of the larger attitude. The fact of the matter is, the primary function of the Red Cross today is to be a giant money machine in charge of the supply of blood. It's a tail wagging the dog type of situation. This business, which Red Cross dominates in the US, brings in some much cash that it dwarfs the significance of the rest of the operation.


56 posted on 03/05/2006 9:10:22 AM PST by strategofr (Hillary stole 1000+ secret FBI files on DC movers & shakers, Hillary's Secret War, Poe, p. xiv)
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To: cjmae
Sorry, wrong thread!

No need to apologize; your sentiments fit on this thread as well as whatever thread you thought you were posting to.
57 posted on 03/05/2006 9:36:28 AM PST by hummingbird (And, yes, I am wearing my Notre Dame T-Shirt today!)
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To: SuziQ
Why didn't the celebrities VOLUNTEER their services?

Volunteer work brings no "cha-ching" or "in kind" payments. If the IRS was following the rules the same for everybody, these celebs would probably be doing time for tax evasion and/or paying some mighty hefty fines and back taxes.
58 posted on 03/05/2006 9:40:04 AM PST by hummingbird (And, yes, I am wearing my Notre Dame T-Shirt today!)
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To: armymarinemom
If we have a death in our family we have to notify the Red Cross before leave is approved. We did have a death in the family a few weeks into the Iraq War. Notification turned into a nightmare. The local office stated in a rather rude manner that it would take at least a week to get word to my son. I gave up locally and called Germany. After a lot of insistence I reached my son in three hours. He refused to come home but at least he was able to speak with his family. Just knowing that they are notified makes a world of difference.

Shame on the Red Cross. Salvation Army is definitely the way to go.

During the hurricanes (Katrina or Rita...I forget which), some newsy was interviewing a Red Cross spokesman who was championing the RC for arriving to help and that they were starting to triage the situation and what not.

The funny thing is that the Salvation Army could be seen in the background already at work.
59 posted on 03/05/2006 9:45:54 AM PST by hummingbird (And, yes, I am wearing my Notre Dame T-Shirt today!)
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To: strategofr
After Katrina, the first people on the scene were journalists and the Salvation Army. Everyone else was still complaining about how it was "impossible to get there".

I remember that "impossible to get there" line of griping from the Red Cross, too. Maybe they didn't want their ball gowns and other evening wear to get dirty.
60 posted on 03/05/2006 9:49:33 AM PST by hummingbird (And, yes, I am wearing my Notre Dame T-Shirt today!)
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