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A few days ago, I submitted the story about the article criticizing the Red Cross' use of funds in Haiti. Purely by coincidence, I just tripped across an interview on Reddit: the two authors of the article answering questions from the public. To make things even more interesting, Jonathan Garro from the Red Cross also jumped in to provide a counterpoint.
I have no axe to grind here: I donate to the local Red Cross, and am therefore interested to know whether the organization makes effective use of the money it receives.
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Black Eye for the Red Cross - Continued
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by SDRefugee on Wednesday June 17 2015, @02:37PM
Disclaimer: I am a volunteer with the local Redcross chapter, and am on what is known as the "Disaster Action Team". We are the guys/gals who are called when a house/apartment fire happens in our local area, and we respond with immediate assistance (clothing/food/shelter) for the victims. A VERY large part of local Redcross donations go to providing this assistance to local victims. That being said, I don't have any inside knowledge about Redcross operations other than our local programs, and of course, all the help provided to victims of tornados, floods in the midwest.. We have a local public information officer who sends out press releases and social media updates whenever the DAT team is called out to a fire.. As far as I'm concerned, as a Redcross volunteer, the local assistance we provide is the most important function of the Redcross...
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday June 17 2015, @06:27PM
First, thank you for what do with your community.
Secondly, while that may be true, the higher ups in Red Cross already killed their organization for me with their shenanigans in 9/11 and Haiti. I would love to support you, but that 'VERY' large part of the funds makes me very skeptical. I can recall Red Cross admonishing everyone about how all the 9/11 money *could* go to places other than the victims and those suffering. It didn't help either knowing how large their fleet of private corporate jets *are*, and that it's basically used to shuttle executive butts in style.
The Red Cross is perceived as a charitable organization that his simply got to big, and that those at the top more or less use it as personal funds. If only there was a way to know that donating to the local Red Cross chapter actually keeps those funds local.
You ARE the most important function of the Red Cross, and its raison de' etre. Why Red Cross has such a black eye, and bad reputation, is that we think there is some sociopathic asshole behind you unjustly distributing funds and profiting from your hard work and dedication to helping those in need. While you go home exhausted, dirty, and tired, a Red Cross executive is living a pampered life style congratulating themselves on your work, and then thanking the stewardess for the champagne.
Take a guess if I want my money buying the champagne....
In other words, donating to the Red Cross is like to trying to feed the starving of Africa with Sally Struthers. Some of the food makes it there right? ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by SDRefugee on Wednesday June 17 2015, @11:17PM
Why Red Cross has such a black eye, and bad reputation, is that we think there is some sociopathic asshole behind you unjustly distributing funds and profiting from your hard work and dedication to helping those in need.
Unfortuantly, I believe you're 100% right, but as far as I know, there is NO other organization that does "boots-on-ground/first-responder-after-the-fire-dept" support for victims of house/apartment fires. In pretty much the majority of the calls I've responded to in the 2 years I've been a DAT volunteer, the people that I provide assistance to would have NOTHING... We are called by the fire department and in one particular case, the house was completely consumed, and the family barely got out with their lives, and by the time the DAT team arrived, about a half hour later, the people had blankets provided by the fire department. The Redcross provides victims (we call them clients) with a Mastercard/debit card which has funds for lodging/food/clothing loaded on it. And once the DAT team addresses their immediate needs post-fire, we also have professionally trained caseworkers who contact the clients the next day to address their longer-term needs. I'm retired and if I didn't volunteer for this, usually 2-3 days/week, I'd be bored out of my mind. To make a long story short, I *know* there's corruption in the higher levels of the organization, but it *still* does a VERY important job locally (and nationally, with hurricane/tornado/earthquake assistance)
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..