Kathianne
11-25-2012, 01:18 AM
Your money may be better sent to smaller, less politicized and bureaucratic organizations. I have to agree, I remember the diversion of $$ with 9/11 and some of the other disasters they were criticized for.
They also have a vast networking with businesses. I know at Walgreens, they took down the 'donation' charity of November and for 2 weeks put in the Red Cross. While people are always generous, it's usually $1 or $5. For 'Red Cross' with Sandy in the news? Lots of those smaller donations, but an unusual amount of $10, 15, 25, and 50. One Friday I had 6, $50 donations and there are 3 other registers in the same store.
Now multiply that by companies that offer to 'donate': groceries, Target, Macy's, etc. How many of those choose the Red Cross?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/24/after-sandy-the-american-red-cross-collects-both-criticism-and-cash.html
After Sandy, the American Red Cross Collects Both Criticism and Cash <time class="timestamp" property="dc:created" datetime="2012-11-24T09:45:00.000Z" pubdate="pubdate">Nov 24, 2012 4:45 AM EST </time> In the hardest-hit areas, smaller and nimbler groups are playing key relief roles, report Lizzie Crocker and Caitlin Dickson.The American Red Cross “knows what it’s doing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/obama-red-cross-hurricane-sandy_n_2044111.html),” President Barack Obama said when he visited the agency the day after Hurricane Sandy devastated New Jersey and New York—and during the final week of the presidential campaign—as he called on Americans to donate to it. Two weeks after the storm, Gail McGovern, the group’s chief executive officer and president, deemed its response “near flawless.”
There’s no question the group has remained the public face of disaster relief—collecting more than $145 million in donations (http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/pf/sandy-donations-red-cross/index.html) as of last week, thanks in part to the president’s appeal, television PSAs featuring popular actors, and even bank ATM and drugstore swipe machines that ask after a transaction if you’d like to donate to the Red Cross—and deploying what it says is its largest domestic operation in five years in response to Sandy. But many residents and volunteers in the hardest-hit areas say they’ve been disappointed by its response, even as smaller and ad-hoc relief efforts have played a prominent frontline role in the relief and recovery effort.
It’s hardly the first time the Red Cross—which collected more than a billion dollars in contributions in its fiscal year ending last June—has come under fire. In recent years, the 131-year-old charity has been heavily criticized for its responses to 9/11 (http://articles.cnn.com/2001-11-06/us/rec.charity.hearing_1_liberty-fund-red-cross-relief-agency?_s=PM:US), Katrina (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/national/nationalspecial/24cross.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), the earthquake in Haiti (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002075-503544.html), and the tsunami that hit Japan (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/16/american-red-cross-official-defends-fundraising-efforts/), with many of the complaints revolving around mismanaged funds (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/28/red_cross_management_rapped/?camp=pm) and misleading fundraising (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/22/1053585646417.html), as well as the propriety of its blood-bank operations (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/us/17cross.html?pagewanted=all).
...
In the days and weeks since Sandy ravaged parts of the New York and New Jersey coasts, however, residents in some of the hardest-hit areas say they still have seen no sign of the Red Cross. “The Red Cross was not a central player in those early days,” said New York City Councilman Brad Lander. He added, however, that he was warned before the storm that when the city met with the ARC, the group warned that it didn’t have the capacity to be on the ground in all areas that could potentially be affected.
...
“In the first several days, it was really just basic human needs: food, water, batteries, flashlights. Our chapel became a supply command center,” said Rabbi Andrew Bachman (http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/04/02/america-s-top-50-rabbis-for-2012.html#slide_6) of Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
“The first thing we did was prepare kosher meals for hundreds of residents who were evacuated from Queens to the Park Slope Armory [in Brooklyn]. As requests came in we would put a message out on Facebook and within hours they’d be filled.”
Bachman says he hardly encountered the Red Cross while working in distressed neighborhoods. He did, however, see other smaller groups—particularly Occupy Sandy—that had quickly formed to provide help where it was needed.
...
They also have a vast networking with businesses. I know at Walgreens, they took down the 'donation' charity of November and for 2 weeks put in the Red Cross. While people are always generous, it's usually $1 or $5. For 'Red Cross' with Sandy in the news? Lots of those smaller donations, but an unusual amount of $10, 15, 25, and 50. One Friday I had 6, $50 donations and there are 3 other registers in the same store.
Now multiply that by companies that offer to 'donate': groceries, Target, Macy's, etc. How many of those choose the Red Cross?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/24/after-sandy-the-american-red-cross-collects-both-criticism-and-cash.html
After Sandy, the American Red Cross Collects Both Criticism and Cash <time class="timestamp" property="dc:created" datetime="2012-11-24T09:45:00.000Z" pubdate="pubdate">Nov 24, 2012 4:45 AM EST </time> In the hardest-hit areas, smaller and nimbler groups are playing key relief roles, report Lizzie Crocker and Caitlin Dickson.The American Red Cross “knows what it’s doing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/obama-red-cross-hurricane-sandy_n_2044111.html),” President Barack Obama said when he visited the agency the day after Hurricane Sandy devastated New Jersey and New York—and during the final week of the presidential campaign—as he called on Americans to donate to it. Two weeks after the storm, Gail McGovern, the group’s chief executive officer and president, deemed its response “near flawless.”
There’s no question the group has remained the public face of disaster relief—collecting more than $145 million in donations (http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/pf/sandy-donations-red-cross/index.html) as of last week, thanks in part to the president’s appeal, television PSAs featuring popular actors, and even bank ATM and drugstore swipe machines that ask after a transaction if you’d like to donate to the Red Cross—and deploying what it says is its largest domestic operation in five years in response to Sandy. But many residents and volunteers in the hardest-hit areas say they’ve been disappointed by its response, even as smaller and ad-hoc relief efforts have played a prominent frontline role in the relief and recovery effort.
It’s hardly the first time the Red Cross—which collected more than a billion dollars in contributions in its fiscal year ending last June—has come under fire. In recent years, the 131-year-old charity has been heavily criticized for its responses to 9/11 (http://articles.cnn.com/2001-11-06/us/rec.charity.hearing_1_liberty-fund-red-cross-relief-agency?_s=PM:US), Katrina (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/national/nationalspecial/24cross.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), the earthquake in Haiti (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002075-503544.html), and the tsunami that hit Japan (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/16/american-red-cross-official-defends-fundraising-efforts/), with many of the complaints revolving around mismanaged funds (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/28/red_cross_management_rapped/?camp=pm) and misleading fundraising (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/22/1053585646417.html), as well as the propriety of its blood-bank operations (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/us/17cross.html?pagewanted=all).
...
In the days and weeks since Sandy ravaged parts of the New York and New Jersey coasts, however, residents in some of the hardest-hit areas say they still have seen no sign of the Red Cross. “The Red Cross was not a central player in those early days,” said New York City Councilman Brad Lander. He added, however, that he was warned before the storm that when the city met with the ARC, the group warned that it didn’t have the capacity to be on the ground in all areas that could potentially be affected.
...
“In the first several days, it was really just basic human needs: food, water, batteries, flashlights. Our chapel became a supply command center,” said Rabbi Andrew Bachman (http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/04/02/america-s-top-50-rabbis-for-2012.html#slide_6) of Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
“The first thing we did was prepare kosher meals for hundreds of residents who were evacuated from Queens to the Park Slope Armory [in Brooklyn]. As requests came in we would put a message out on Facebook and within hours they’d be filled.”
Bachman says he hardly encountered the Red Cross while working in distressed neighborhoods. He did, however, see other smaller groups—particularly Occupy Sandy—that had quickly formed to provide help where it was needed.
...