The Red Cross

[Don Corleone]

I'm not trying to rabble rouse here. I'm really not looking for speculation or poo-flinging (sorry, can't get that out of my mind after watching Madagascar).

But I've heard some pretty awful things about the Red Cross in the United States, in particular certain chapters, such as San Diego and New York.

-In San Diego, the local Red Cross used the 1997 wildfires to raise huge amounts of cash, even though they did not share the money with the victims, and in fact, charged local residents for any aid rendered.

-In New York, the local Red Cross took in tons of money after September 11th, and only agreed to return/release it after being called to testify before Congress.

Yet, once again, with this disaster, everyone is saying "Give to the Red Cross". Is it just me? Am I the only one wondering how putting more money in the pocket of a local executive who makes $1million a year helps the people of New Orleans? Or am I way off base on this one? Have I fallen for a really nasty urban myth?

In any case, one agency that I KNOW does good work in these matters, that I have been donating to, is the Salavation Army.

[Sjakihata]

Corruption flourish everywhere, not only in the White House.

[Paul Peru]

hmmmm
I just gave them $100 to do something in Niger for me 2 weeks ago :furious3:
Of course I've got to give to someone I'm confident will spend it on aid and not on telling fairytales. ~;)

BTW, Don, I'm not after you or anything. Hope all is well with the wife and the encapsulated one. ~:grouphug:
(my family package seems to be doing fine ~:) )

[Redleg]

Well Don as with any donation to any agency we as contributors should insure the organization on average does what they say they do. The American Red Cross has to file for public record their activities - so its easy to see what the long term track record of the organization is - when in doubt of an organization - its always best to research and find another.

I have had to deal with American Red Cross several times while in the military both on a personal level - they are the agency the Army uses to communicate lose of loved ones while you are overseas - and with soldiers who I have sent to the Red Cross to get aid for numerous reasons.

I trust them more then I should I image based upon the news reports out of New York and California that you are refering to -

The Salvation Army is also a great agency - I donate a lot of my unused personal belonging to that organization to be used to assist the homeless and other unfortunates who have been stricken with some type of diaster.

[drone]

Has the United Way cleaned up it's act? I can't remember if it was the national org, or local chapters, but they had problems "diverting" funds into people's pockets.

Edit-> My company is matching employee donations to the Red Cross for Katrina Relief, so I will probably be sending them my money.

[King Henry V]

I like the Red Cross. It has a nice cantine, serving good food. My mum used to work and she got a nice salary with nice long holidays and short working hours.......

[Aenlic]

When I was injured in the Navy, my family got a notification from the numbnuts in the Navy bureaucracy saying only that I'd been injured. They had no idea how to contact me, where I was, what had happened or anything else. It took someone at the Red Cross to locate me in the Navy hospital in Naples when they were asked by my parents. Until then, they had no idea if I was dead or alive and the Navy was no help in that regard.

When my father passed away while I was in Orlando, my mother was unable to contact me for almost two days because the numbnuts (might have been the same numbnut from the earlier incident, who knows?) in the Navy bureaucracy wouldn't put an emergency call through to me at the secure, and amusingly "secret", facility where I was. She called the Red Cross again. The Red Cross managed it in 2 hours, getting a message to my CO who gave it straight to my master chief who then came straight to me. I was on a flight that night back home for emergency leave.

I'll always rely upon the Red Cross. I just sent the entire amount of today's automatic deposit of my VA disability check to them this afternoon. They have my complete confidence, unlike groups like the United Way.

[drone]

Before putting this out there, let me preface with this: I don't really know anything about The Nation magazine, whether they are whacko leftists or fascists, but I think we can all agree, Pat Robertson does not need our money. The article seems to be a little left, but it brings up a good question. Does anyone here know specifics about Operation Blessing?

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050919/blumenthal

posted September 7, 2005 (web only)
Pat Robertson's Katrina Cash

Max Blumenthal
Every cloud has a silver lining. Hurricane Katrina has devastated New Orleans, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, and plunging the entire city into chaos. In the hurricane's wake, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its director, Michael Brown, forced out of his former job at the International Arabian Horse Association, with no credentials in disaster relief, have become targets of withering criticism. Yet FEMA's relief efforts have brought considerable assistance to at least one man who stands to benefit from Hurricane Katrina perhaps more than any other individual: Pat Robertson.

With the Bush Administration's approval, Robertson's $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing, has been prominently featured on FEMA's list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief. Dozens of media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN and the Associated Press, duly reprinted FEMA's list, unwittingly acting as agents soliciting cash for Robertson. "How in the heck did that happen?" Richard Walden, president of the disaster-relief group Operation USA, asked of Operation Blessing's inclusion on FEMA's list. "That gives Pat Robertson millions of extra dollars."

Though Operation USA has conducted disaster relief for more than twenty-five years on five continents, like scores of other secular relief groups currently helping victims of Hurricane Katrina, it was omitted from FEMA's list. In fact, only two non-"faith-based" organizations were included. (One of them, the American Red Cross, is being blocked from entering New Orleans by FEMA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.) FEMA, meanwhile, has reportedly turned away Wal-Mart trucks carrying food and water to the stricken city, teams of firemen from Maryland and Texas, volunteer morticians and a convoy of 1,000 boat owners offering to help rescue stranded flood victims. While relief efforts falter in the face of colossal bureaucratic incompetence, the Bush Administration's promotion of Operation Blessing has ensured that the floodwaters swallowing New Orleans will be a rising tide lifting Robertson's boat.

Robertson recently ignited a media firestorm when he called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez during a broadcast of The 700 Club. He has also blamed the 9/11 attacks on America's tolerance of abortion and homosexuality and declared the Supreme Court a greater threat to the United States than Al Qaeda. Robertson assiduously cultivates his celebrity with remarks like these, casting himself as a divisive bigot to his foes and a righteous prophet to his allies in Christian right circles. But there is much more to Robertson than the headline-grabbing hothead he plays on TV.

Far from the media's gaze, Robertson has used the tax-exempt, nonprofit Operation Blessing as a front for his shadowy financial schemes, while exerting his influence within the GOP to cover his tracks. In 1994 he made an emotional plea on The 700 Club for cash donations to Operation Blessing to support airlifts of refugees from the Rwandan civil war to Zaire (now Congo). Reporter Bill Sizemore of The Virginian Pilot later discovered that Operation Blessing's planes were transporting diamond-mining equipment for the African Development Corporation, a Robertson-owned venture initiated with the cooperation of Zaire's then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

->snipped rest of article
I hadn't seen FEMA's list before, I didn't know it was so slanted towards religious organizations. Very interesting...
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18473

Sorry if this starts the rabble-rousing. :embarassed:

Edit-> Just saw this gem on CNN, Katrina relief internet scams are flourishing. Such nice people. Looks like you really have to be careful who you donate to...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/08/katrina.web.scams.ap/index.html

[Red Harvest]

Don't confuse the local agencies for the nationals in all of this. Yes there are some national scandals too, but most of what we hear are particular local agencies that use dishonest practices. I remember the San Diego one in particular.

[Don Corleone]

My point is, everybody's first reaction is 'give money to the Red Cross'. My employer is going around telling everyone that they'll match donations, but only if you give to the Red Cross. How is making the local Red Cross president rich helping anybody in New Orleans? There are plenty of organizations that are doing a lot down in New Orleans, such as the Salvation Army that don't charge for their aid and do make certain that funds collected for a specific relief campaign go to that effort (two things the Red Cross has been nailed on more than once).

I mean, I wish there was someplace else I could donate blood. We only have Red Cross blood banks around here, and selling blood to hospitals (which I give them for free) is a huge cash cow for them.

[KukriKhan]

The woman who chaired the San Diego county Red Cross during the brushfires 2 years ago (who put the donations into a general slush fund, instead of spreading them as intended by the donors) was fired, and prosecuted. The new guy knows better, and now any donations made here get an automatic "ear-marking" question:

Do you want to direct your contribution to:
a) Katrina
b) tsunami
c) Kukri's beer fund :)
etc (they currently have a list of 10 suggested projects, I think; and donors can specify 'other' or 'general fund' if they prefer). I guess they've learnt their lesson here locally.

My experience with the national RC has all been positive.