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Thread: American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted

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    Default American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted

    Jun 16, 7:43 PM EDT

    American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted

    By AMY LORENTZEN
    Associated Press Writer


    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The American Red Cross said on Monday that its Disaster Relief Fund is wiped out and it's being forced to borrow money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest.

    Jeff Towers, the organization's chief development officer, said the balance for domestic disaster relief efforts is zero. He said the American Red Cross would borrow to keep workers and volunteers in the field helping flood victims.

    "The Red Cross remains committed to providing the scale of services that people expect of the Red Cross when disaster strikes, and the way that we are doing that right now is taking out loans to fund our response," he said during a conference call from Washington. "That's not a position we want to be in; it's obviously not sustainable."

    The shortage in the organization's only domestic disaster relief fund comes as it continues flood relief efforts in soaked Iowa and ramps up its work downstream in Illinois and Missouri as more flooding is expected there. Officials said the Red Cross has 2,500 workers on the ground, 89 percent of them volunteers.

    Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services, said the fund has been depleted over the past few years in the absence of large-scale disasters that bring attention to the relevance of the Red Cross.

    "We have had a large number of mid-size disasters or silent disasters that have cost us a considerable amount of money where we've not been able to raise what it's cost us to provide that service," he said.

    So far, he said the flood response in the Midwest has cost about $15 million, and Towers said it could reach as high as about $40 million.

    "That's putting this in the category of a very significant disaster for the Red Cross, historically, when you would look at what we spend on relief efforts," Becker said.

    Towers said the organization has raised only about $3.2 million toward the flooding response. He said it's an especially difficult time to seek funds with a troubled economy and many previous givers now reaching an age that they are on a fixed income.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

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    Quote Originally Posted by uscitizen View Post
    Jun 16, 7:43 PM EDT

    American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted

    By AMY LORENTZEN
    Associated Press Writer


    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The American Red Cross said on Monday that its Disaster Relief Fund is wiped out and it's being forced to borrow money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest.

    Jeff Towers, the organization's chief development officer, said the balance for domestic disaster relief efforts is zero. He said the American Red Cross would borrow to keep workers and volunteers in the field helping flood victims.

    "The Red Cross remains committed to providing the scale of services that people expect of the Red Cross when disaster strikes, and the way that we are doing that right now is taking out loans to fund our response," he said during a conference call from Washington. "That's not a position we want to be in; it's obviously not sustainable."

    The shortage in the organization's only domestic disaster relief fund comes as it continues flood relief efforts in soaked Iowa and ramps up its work downstream in Illinois and Missouri as more flooding is expected there. Officials said the Red Cross has 2,500 workers on the ground, 89 percent of them volunteers.

    Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services, said the fund has been depleted over the past few years in the absence of large-scale disasters that bring attention to the relevance of the Red Cross.

    "We have had a large number of mid-size disasters or silent disasters that have cost us a considerable amount of money where we've not been able to raise what it's cost us to provide that service," he said.

    So far, he said the flood response in the Midwest has cost about $15 million, and Towers said it could reach as high as about $40 million.

    "That's putting this in the category of a very significant disaster for the Red Cross, historically, when you would look at what we spend on relief efforts," Becker said.

    Towers said the organization has raised only about $3.2 million toward the flooding response. He said it's an especially difficult time to seek funds with a troubled economy and many previous givers now reaching an age that they are on a fixed income.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

    The Red Cross is a sham....People stopped giving to them when they realized that it was the charity version of Benny Hinn....


    Take for example:

    Many donors felt that they had donated specifically to the victims of the September 11 attacks and objected to Healy's official plan for the diversion of funds. Survivors complained of the bureaucratic process involved in requesting funds and the slow delivery of the checks to meet immediate needs. Congressional hearings were called and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer investigated the Red Cross. In the end, the American Red Cross appointed former U.S. senator George Mitchell to handle distribution of the funds. Dr. Healy was forced to resign for her role in the situation, and the Red Cross pledged that all funds would go to directly benefit the victims of the September 11 attacks.[14] Healy received a severance payment of $1,569,630.


    (CNN) -- Red Cross President and CEO Mark W. Everson has stepped down after revelations he was "engaged in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee," the organization announced Tuesday.


    Mark W. Everson says he is leaving his post, effective immediately, for "personal and family reasons."

    The Red Cross Board of Governors asked for and received Everson's resignation after it "concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson's part and diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future," the Red Cross said in a statement on its Web site.

    Everson, 53, said in a written statement that he was leaving the $500,000-per-year job "for personal and family reasons, and deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue in a job so recently undertaken."

    Everson -- who is married and has two children -- joined the Red Cross as president and CEO last May.

    The organization became aware of Everson's relationship with a female Red Cross employee 10 days ago, Chief Public Affairs Officer Suzy C. DeFrancis told CNN in a telephone interview.


    MSNBC - Troubles continue to plague the nonprofit's blood bank organization, fined $4.6 million by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, bringing the total number of fines imposed by regulators to more than $20 million. The FDA is alleging that the Red Cross has failed to properly screen blood donations for pubic safety.

    In Mississippi, victims wanted water to drink, but Red Cross volunteers only had bleach. "The basic needs of the beneficiaries are not being met," Mike Goodhand, a British Red Cross logistics executive who assisted U.S. counterparts in New Orleans, wrote in a September 2005 report.


    Yet the organization's leadership and cultural problems — despite renewed efforts at reforms — continue to dog the nonprofit, and there remains frequent turnover at the highest ranks of the organization: The ARC has gone through a half-dozen CEOs and acting CEOs in as many years: Its latest CEO, former IRS Chief Mark Everson, was barely on the job for a half-year before the board asked for and received his resignation on Nov. 27 "for his engagement in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee" who was a married president of a Mississippi chapter, according to ARC Press Officer Carrie Martin.


    Then, on Jan. 8, the Associated Press broke a story that a former executive at the Minneapolis chapter of the American Red Cross was suing the chapter and ARC national organization, alleging sex and age discrimination by colleagues. The case is pending.

    The Red Cross also is working to change its culture. On its Web site, the Red Cross noted in April 2006: "Red Cross representatives need to be aware of their reputation for arrogance, bureaucracy and insensitivity." A checklist of reforms adopted by the ARC in the summer of 2006, for example, concluded by urging a culture more reliant on partnerships, more risk-tolerant, less bureaucratic and more adaptive.


    The American Red Cross is horrible....same as the Canadian Red Cross...my parents stopped donating to them years ago.... way better to donate to United Way...

    CK
    Quote Originally Posted by Topspin View Post
    graphs generally follow each other, which means there's not constant factor ya moron

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