Staten Island Borough President: Don’t Give Money to the Red Cross

Politicker ^ | 11-1-2012 | Colin Campbell

[Sir Napsalot]

At a press conference this morning on Staten Island, a host of local officials, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, gathered to highlight the needs of the hard-hit borough in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. And, although many pols spoke, no one was more impassioned than Borough President James Molinaro, who called the Red Cross an “absolute disgrace” and even urged the public to cease giving them contributions.

..... (Read the whole thing)

[DoughtyOne]

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.

[Sir Napsalot]

Again, I am NOT endorsing ARC.

But 15 ~ 20 yeares ago, United Way had the reputation of wasting large percentage of donation to their executives/admin and ‘stars’ for fundraising. IIRC, Red Cross (at the time under Elisabeth Dole) was ‘cleaner’.

Personal donation aside, if you work in the corporate world, there is NO WAY avoiding United Way or Red Cross.

[polymuser]

Give your donations to local churches and The Salvation Army, instead.

[OldGMA]

HAH Did you know that Clara Barton embezzled the Red Cross funds and fled to England?

[Intolerant in NJ]

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.......

[DoughtyOne]

I used to donate each pay period through the United Way. I increased it a $1 each year. Then one year during the solicitation phase, I took a long look at the list of places it was spending my money on.

When I ran into AIDS hostels in highly popular bath house districts, it rubbed me the wrong way. Here I was donating to a concern that was the relief agency for people who continued to participate in risky behaviors despite knowing the risks. This wasn’t the only issue I had with their list of places they disbursed funds to.

If I remember correctly, they also listed a number of agencies that could be grouped together under the heading, “Psycho-babel Related”.

I really didn’t want to support some of the things they did. Perhaps others do.

I think donating to your local church, or local non-profits is the way to go. I also think blind, one on one donations to people you are aware of, is a great way to help others. This can be arranged through a church or another local organization.

[silverleaf]

Then why are the SI pols bitching about the city’s efforts to reopen the tunnnels and subway system and reestablish the metro economy?

Secondary to pumping water out of soon-to-be condemned SI homes filled with people who were told to evacuate and didn’t?

Just askin’, angry person

[arasina]

For yesterday's FReepers discussion about the Red Cross, see: MSNBC: Nobody Needs Your Hurricane Donations Mitt Romney

[wideminded]

By the time all the onion layers are peeled off, I’d be very surprised if 50 cents makes it out, after administrative and salaries are paid off.

See #57.

[wideminded]

Did you know that Clara Barton embezzled the Red Cross funds and fled to England?

This appears to not be true as stated. Barton traveled to England in the early 1870's, but the American Red Cross was founded in 1881. She was eventually replaced as head of the Red Cross in 1904 at the age of 83. Barton had been criticized for her financial management and was accused of failing to properly distinguish Red Cross funds and her own salary. But a Senate investigation cleared her of any wrongdoing. And her accomplishments during this entire period are extremely impressive. Barton died in Maryland.

- link 1, link 2, link 3

[Cold Heart]

There were some pretty strong threads here on FR about Obama favoring black townships during the flood. Months later I read a really good article in one of my inland marine publications giving the breakdown of the flood and the processes which followed.

[mass55th]

Thanks for your info. I just read an article that her once-missing Soldier's Office in Washington will be opening as an event center late this year, or early 2013. Hopefully they will eventually open it up to tours. According to the site page:

"In 1865 Barton hired a staff and opened the “Office of Correspondence with the Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army” in this building. At the end of the war, Barton took up the cause of grieving parents, family and friends whose sons, brothers, neighbors were missing. She responded to over 63,000 letters, most of which required some kind of research that eventually lead to published lists of the names of the missing so that anyone with knowledge of their whereabouts or death could contact her. By the time the office closed in 1867, she had identified the fate of over 22,000 men."

I know she was also involved in locating and marking the graves of many of the men who had died at Andersonville. A former prisoner Dorance Atwater, smuggled out a list of names of the Union soldiers who had died, and when he learned of Barton's efforts to correspond and help loved ones find out what happened to their family members, he contacted here, and they worked together on the project.

Site link:

Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office

Here's a Washington Post article about it from this past April:

Clara Barton’s Civil War office to become a museum

[2nd amendment mama]

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Look, do some homework: fact.....no tunnels nor subways connect Staten Island to any of the other boroughs! The only ways on/off Staten Island are by bridges.