President of American Red Cross Resigns

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer 39 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The president of the
American Red Cross, Marsha J. Evans, who oversaw the charity's vast and sometimes criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, is resigning effective at the end of this month, the organization said Tuesday.

<snip>

Evans, a former head of the Girl Scouts of America, took over as Red Cross president in August 2002 as the organization was shaking off criticism of how it handled some of the donations sent in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Red Cross emerged from that controversy with promises of greater openness and accountability, but the unprecedented challenges posed by this year's hurricanes raised new problems. Some critics said the Red Cross failed to respond quickly enough in some low-income, minority areas; others faulted it for balking at cooperation with local grass-roots organizations.

Evans acknowledged in September that the organization's response to Katrina and Hurricane Rita had been uneven, and said that the destructive power of the storms — along with the flooding that followed "eclipsed even our direst, worst-case scenarios."

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051213/ap_on_re_us/red_cross_resignation

I've read an article on Counter Punch that delves into the corruption within this organization.

I don't know enough about it to say one way or the other. But - I'm suspicious.

Where the hell has all of the money gone?

peace.

She's kept an awfully low profile since she headed the Red Crosss.

:wow: I know Elizabeth Dole did. I send my donations to other agencies.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0925-28.htm


Published on Sunday, September 25, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
The Red Cross Money Pit
by Richard M. Walden

With hurricane Rita now making news, it's time for Americans to take a more disciplined look at their tremendous generosity. As of last week, the American Red Cross reported that it had raised $826 million in private funds for Hurricane Katrina victims. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has the total figure at more than $1.2 billion for all relief groups reporting. So the Red Cross received about 70% of all giving.

This percentage was no doubt bloated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's mystifying release to the media of the names of 19 faith-based charities (plus the Red Cross, Humane Society and three lesser-known groups) to which the public should donate — rather than the much wider group of established relief agencies.

This skewed giving to Red Cross would be justified if the organization had to pay the cost of the 300,000 people it has sheltered. But FEMA and the affected states are reimbursing the Red Cross under preexisting contracts for emergency shelter and other disaster services. The existence of these contracts is no secret to anyone but the American public. The Red Cross carefully says it functions only by the grace of the American people — but "people" includes government, national and local. What we've now come to expect from a major disaster is a Red Cross media blitz.

The national Red Cross reports it spent $111 million last year on fundraising alone. And it's hard to escape the organization's warning of Armageddon if you don't call in a credit card number or send a check or donate blood (which it resells to the tune of more than $1.5 billion annually, part of its $3 billion in income).


More.....

The ones with billion dollar budgets and highly paid CEOs. Instead I give locally and know where my money is going. That would be straight to the people who need it, and not to some organization with their eye on the dollar. It burned me up to see that the Red Cross was asking for reimbursement when we had sent in all those dollars. Just what in tar nation did they do with all that donated money that they did not have for the people affected by Katrina until the donations started to flow. Then they want to be reimbursed? Forget them!

OVER the week that is budgeted and within the capabilities of our organization. We provide immediate relief to get people back on their feet, not long term. We've never claimed we are a long term assistance organization. The mission of the American Red Cross is to prevent, prepare for, and respond to EMERGENCIES. Thats exactly what we are doing. Read my post below and you will know where your donations are going. We are trained in emergency response to small and large scale disasters, mass feeding, and mass sheltering.

Never fails. Post anything about the American Red Cross and they come out in droves. The author of this complains that we only provide emergencly relief and therefore aren't worth the donations. As far as being reimbursed by FEMA? Its no "secret" that FEMA is reimbursing the Red Cross for stepping up and providing overnight stays in hotels for survivors that GO BEYOND the one week policy of the Red Cross. We are ONLY being reimbursed for time AFTER the first week. People should be thankful we aren't throwing them out on their ass after a week and are working on THEIR behalf to make up for FEMA's lack of response. Had it been up to FEMA and Bush, shelters would have been closed after 30 days. Bush actually tried to order shelters closed.

I know first hand its a mess down there and there are those who still haven't gotten the help they need. This is a HUGE effort and until you've driven through there with in an Emergency Response Vehicle doing case management and providing meals to survivors and seen how thankful they are for a simple meal, snack, a bucket and a mop, and a voucher for a new bed and clothes you might want to get the facts straight.

From the posted article: "If it takes care of 300,000 people, that's $7,000 per victim." Lets take a look at the real numbers and not the numbers of someone who obviously has a beef with the American Red Cross.

At the height of the relief effort, the Red Cross served more than 995,000 meals in a single day.

In the first SIX weeks, a record 20 million meals and 13 million snacks were served to hurricane survivors located in 27 states.

the Red Cross has provided hurricane survivors with nearly 3.42 million overnight stays in nearly 1,100 shelters across 27 states.

To date, the Red Cross has made more than 1,633,350 mental and health contacts.

The Red Cross has distributed more than 509,060 comfort and clean up kits.

Ask anyone who just lost there house if they couldn't use an immediate 1,000-1,500 dollars to buy a bed, clothes, and pots and pans if it isn't worth it. Ask someone standing with a blanket and sometimes no clothes after a fire (which happens in the Portland area every 32 hours) if they aren't thankful for a weeks stay and a visit with a mental health counselor and an emergency relief counselor.

Get this. 219,500 Red Cross disaster relief workers from all 50 states have responded so far. The Oregon Trail Chapter in Portland Oregon has sent OVER 300 emergency response trained volunteers since the beginning of the disaster during rotating 21 day deployments to help in the relief effort. Do people think this is free? Its NOT free and donations to the Red Cross are being responsibly used to support this continuing effort.

Instead of bitching about the Red Cross and the mistakes it MAY have made in the past (most people don't know the facts), go to your local chapter, get trained, and go spend 21 days of your life helping the survivors and see if your attitude doesn't change.

participate in a disaster and see what happens. Yes, there are very good, kind, caring RC people, both workers and management, but yes they also waste a lot of money and have lots of egotrips making it difficult to get assistance unless you play it their way. Red Cross has collected a huge amount of donations and it needs to held accountable for where that money went. They also need to figure out a better way of getting decent people through their system and in place, and a way to make sure those egotistical, or even pedophiles, cannot be part of them.

1 example: Why would the RC not let a independent person take 2 familes kids on a picnic, even when the parents had signed permission for the picinc with this person? Because they were staying in a RC shelter, and the independent person was working with VFP. Why did they not like VFP? Because some of the volunteers who were helping them got rid of a RC volunteer who just happened to be a pedophile, and the RC was so embarrassed that they wanted nothing more to do with Camp Casey/Covington. Was this a case of false imprisonment? The families left the shelter soon afterwards to go live who knows where because of this incident.

the Red Cross IS being held accountable for the donations and you can find that information on their website. Nationally 90% of every dollar goes to direct hurrican relief. Thats verifiable by Charity Navigator as well as public documents of accountability. Here is the Red Cross page and listed are some pretty reliable endorsements:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/3277.htm

"Charity Navigator, the
Consumer Reports of the philanthropy world. . ."
- Mother Jones Magazine

"Visiting Charity Navigator" is one of 41 ways to improve the world -
- Esquire

"Charity Navigator helps regular folks make informed decisions on where to donate."
- Times Herald-Record

Charity Navigator selected as 'Best of the Web' in part because "peer group comparisons let you compare similar charities across a host of measures."
- Forbes Magazine



As far as your ONE unverified account of a supposed pedophile among the Red Cross volunteers I can't comment. Independent persons taking 2 family kids on a picnic? I can only imagine the legal implications of such an arrangement. Imagine, if everyone that wanted to take a couple kids from a shelter on a picnic were allowed to. The tracking and logistics of that would be a nightmare and a huge liability issue. Lets say they DID let someone take kids from a shelter and something happened to the kids. What then? Then you'd be blaming the RC for letting them do it. There are guidelines that HAVE to be followed in such a large scale emergency. Do bad people get through the cracks..yes they do. I've seen some terrible volunteers go to the disaster, and many of those get sent home early.

Being in a shelter is voluntary, and they were prevented from leaving by RC workers. The parents had signed persmission slips as well as giving verbal permission. Other people had problems with this same RC shelter in other ways also (with holding services, making elderly sleep outside because they snored. One of these elderly women ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. Could they have put her in another room inside instead of outside on the ground? There are stories and stories and stories, many of which I believe because I saw some of them also.

"There are guidelines that HAVE to be followed in such a large scale emergency." They aren't in a lot of cases.

Sorry if you think I am lying, but I am not and that is your problem and RC needs to be held accountable for the money it was donated.

I just choose to give my relief donations to local efforts. Which the article even implied would do more good and help more people directly.

Why then the negative article?

Are you privy to information about their financial picture? Could you give us a breakdown of every penny spent and just how much their board is paid? The Red Cross has never been forthcoming about their money , to my knowledge. I have seen this happen over and over throughout my long life.Those of you who work with ordinary people in need, work without pay. I can understand the emotional impact of seeing the devastation caused by disasters. But you have no real idea about their financial picture. You only know what they tell you.

And if you have hang ups about the Red Cross do the thing - or the Salvation Army Thing - or Habitat, or Saint Vincent de Paul, or LDS Relief, and Chabad Relief. But do something. In a major disaster we can't rely on anybody from anywhere in those first 3-5 days.

"Coastie"

Red Cross Volunteer
Lieutenant, United States Coast Guard (Honorable Discharge - DD214CG)

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more money that she did at the RC.. These scammers always end up in a better place..:(

And she had the Gov. of NY present a huge check for Katrina.

She looked and acted like a twin of Laura's.

else would contribute to the thugs?

that great incompetant Liddy Dole, it has gone steadily downhill FAST!

Could there be a connection?

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(I am a veteran of the United States Coast Guard, - that's where the handle "Coastie" comes from - served at }

I am in my 60's, a retired geezer, and have been involved in NGO Disaster Volunteer Services for some time:

A Red Cross Disaster Assistance Team Captain, Mass Shelter Supervisor, and Disaster Service Instructor,

A Volunteer and Captain

A Ham Emergency Operator (also a FEMA organization)

Worked closely with the Salvataion Army.

First question - the "Glue at the Top" is FEMA and the National Guard.

Where was FEMA - "doin a good job, judging horse shows." - But not on station.

Where was the National Guard? Over in Iraq, fighting Bush's oedipal war for oil.

Second - FEMA's first appearance was to tell the NGO's to stay out - "too dangerous". (More like - "Stay out - we don't want you to see how bad FEMA is screwing up"). I know, I was sitting at an airport waiting to go.

Third - the relocation was totally political - our American citizens were relocated to where an influx of African-American Democrats would do the least harm to Republican electoral positions -- even down to the precinct level. If you were involved in resettlement that was obvious.

Fourth - Bush/Cheney/Rove are looking for scape goats, as in-

* McCain went insane in the POW camp -- remember that little gem?
* Kerry's wounds were self inflicted -- remember that one from Joe Corsi?
* Outing Valery Plame. That's recent.
* Max Cleland's wounds were self inflicted.
* Murtha is a coward who would cut and run.

I was on the ground - Bush and Co saw a way to reap political advantage out of Katrina. Period.

I will admit - the Red Cross was in the middle of implementing a long overdue new database management system - hardware and software -- and the work arounds were overloaded. And the phones were overloaded. And a lot of the stuff was being done with new volunteers off of the street.

But - the volunteers - and the local professional staff - and those CG aviators and ground crew members and lifeboatmen worked their butts off.

---And if you doubt that - take your local preparedness course for your region (hurricane, earthquake, tornado, blizzard - check with your local Fire Department) and your local Red Cross Chapter preparedness course and intro to first aid course. Remember - Red Cross, Salvation Army, Southern Baptist Brotherhood, Habitat, St. Vincent de Paul, etc. are only as good as your neighbors who actually volunteer.

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There is a need for the Red Cross and I know of no one who has bashed the thousands of un-paid, little acknowledged volunteers, who drop everything and rush to the aid of their fellowman.

You don't throw out the baby with the bath water and you shouldn't toss out a necessary humanitarian aid organization. But 9/11 and Katrina has shown us that any leadership appointments within a non-profit humanitarian aid organization should not be used as a plum to be used as a payoff for political cronies.

We cannot depend on the Michaels of FEMA fame, and all of those who have used these agencies to parlay their own wealth and power with little if any knowledge or training to lead or perform at any function/job within the organization they have been handed.

FEMA the Red Cross, HOmeland Security, etc., etc., etc. need to clean up the flood of paid incompetants before they receive funds from donors or taxpayers. They are not only receiving donations and salaries from hard working taxpayers who may have squeezed out their last dime to help their fellow man, but then on top of this George W. Bush abetted by Congress gives them a big tax refund??? These are individuals on the Welfare dole at the expense of our children, eduction, health, infra-structure, etc., etc.

We have started pushing our members into the Red Cross volunteer cadre -- and cadre. Just like the old, east coast Democratic machines of my youth (and we won elections by giving aid to our neighbors made homeless by fires, floods, hurricanes, etc. -- I came out of a North Eastern, big city, Democratic machine)

Why do you think we have a Second Amendment - because the Founding Fathers knew all about bottoms up, trained and drilled ("well regulated") community volunteers ("militia") -- and "militia" means more then guns -- it means putting yourself in discomfort for your community.

Note - the Red Crystal avatar is the new non-sectarain emblem of the Red Cross - I am a volunteer. The handle "Coastie" comes from my service in the United States Coast Guard.

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