Umm..WHERE is all this donated money going?

[lildreamer316]

Because I keep seeing reports here about how the RC and others who are supposed to be on-site are not or they are gutted or whatever--in other words they are not providing the needed relief. So where exactly is all this tens of millions of dollars going? Hmmm? Did I miss something?
Exception being the FEMA $2000 cards; but that can't be ALL of it; is it??

[valerief]

1. Some big salaries at Red Cross

And don't forget Operation Blessing's diamond mines.

[tyedyeto]

5. Not all who work for the Red Cross are receiving big salaries

My niece just started working for them in Philadelphia and is now in Mississippi working at a shelter. She is being paid little but some of her student loans are paid off by her work with them. Her wages are just above minimum.

I know the Red Cross has a 'bad' name but in 1991, I had a house burn down while my family was away for the day. By nightfall, the Red Cross was there with vouchers for us to purchase what we needed...ie: toiletries, clothing, food, etc. I owe them for that and try to donate whenever I can.

[valerief]

10. Good for your niece but just because she doens't earn a lot

Doesn't mean there aren't some hefty salaries for plenty of other folks.

[BrightKnight]

2. Direct aid is what is needed.

Living of of charity is not dignified.

People feel good when they clean out their closets but it does not solve the problem.

[samdogmom]

3. This is the most frustrating part of any relief effort.

Generally, the published recipients of a fund-raising effort are the last group to see any money. So just be aware when you donate, that the stated recipient may not be the actual recipient. I prefer to give my money directly to a SOMEBODY with a name that I know.

[cliss]

4. Well, some of it went to Pat Robertson.

His "charity" site was listed at the FEMA web site.

I'm sorry: I don't trust the Red Cross any more. Not when I found out the director is a big Bush supporter. When I see that, I instantly suspect the worst.

Prove me wrong.

[Bluebear]

6. Can't prove you wrong. I have the same taste in my mouth. nt

[mondo joe]

7. Question: where would you WANT the money to go?

To survivors directly? To the shelters housing them? To water and food in NO?

[unsavedtrash]

8. in tuscaloosa it is going to get survivors apartments, clothes, school

supplies, and various living expenses. Many here have opened up rental houses and apartments to survivors without charging anything until they get on their feet again. At least on the local level here money and supplies seem to be making it into the hands of those who need it and not lining the pockets of various organizations.

[bassman79]

9. The Red Cross is a criminal organization

The Red Cross is a criminal organization. They've been caught stealing money from every major fundraising event they've undertaken. DO NOT send them your money. Send it to a real and small charity.

The Red Cross, under the Liberty Fund, collected $564 million in donations after 9/11. Months after the event, the Red Cross had distributed only $154 million. The Red Cross' explanation for keeping the majority of the money was that it would be used to help 'fight the war on terror'. To the victims, this meant that the money was going towards bombing broken backed third world countries like Afghanistan and setting up surveillance cameras and expanding the police state in US cities, and not towards helping them rebuild their lives.

Then Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy arrogantly responded when questioned about the withholding of funds by stating, "The Liberty Fund is a war fund. It has evolved into a war fund."

Despite the family members of victims of 9/11 complaining bitterly to a House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight panel, the issue seemed to be brushed under the carpet and the mud didn't stick.

The Red Cross' scandalous activities reach back far before 9/11.

After the devastating San Francisco earthquake in 1989, the Red Cross passed on only $10 million of the $50 million that had been raised, and banked the rest.

Similar donations after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the Red River flooding in 1997 were also greedily withheld.

Insight Magazine reported,

“The first days after the bombing,” says one family member, “people from all over the country were sending checks in lieu of flowers and we were getting a lot of checks and cash every day — hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. Then the Red Cross went down to the post office and made arrangements to collect the mail and they would deliver it to us in bulk. All the mail had been opened, and from that point on there never was a dime, even in letters that said money was enclosed.”

The Red Cross has been caught engaging in rampant corruption on an all too regular basis.

3,000 people died after thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from tainted blood supplies.The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year after they had been directly caught knowlingly shipping out the infected blood.

Smaller charities that were involved with the 2004 Tsunami relief project went public to say that large charities like Red Cross and United Way were engaged in secret backroom negotiations with each other that meant a large portion of the donation money was purposefully restricted from reaching the most needy areas affected by the disaster.

The history is clear, the Red Cross and other large so-called charities are in actual fact front group collection agencies for the military industrial complex.

[cliss]

13. WOW. Thanks for backing me up, bassman.

This is absolute dynamite. The corruption....it's breathtaking.

OMG....this is so ugly.

[garybeck]

11. ahem... who runs the Red Cross?

I agree, send money to small local organzations, not the RC.

[zwielicht]

12. direct aid

http://sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html :thumbsup: