Thread: Don't Give Your Hurricane Donations to the Red Cross

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/se ... dcross.htm

Don't Give Your Hurricane Donations to the Red Cross
Establishment charities have history of withholding disaster funds

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | September 1 2005

As the aftermath of hurricane Katrina continues to wreak mayhem and havoc amid reports of mass looting, shooting at rescue helicopters, rapes and murders, establishment media organs are promoting the Red Cross as a worthy organization to give donations to.

The biggest website in the world, Yahoo.com, displays a Red Cross donation link prominently on its front page.

Every time there is a major catastrophe the Red Cross and similar organizations like United Way are given all the media attention while other charities are left in the shadows. This is not to say that the vast majority of Red Cross workers are not decent people who simply want to help those in need.

But what the media fails consistently to remember in their promotion of the organization is that the Red Cross have been caught time and time again withholding money in the wake of horrible disasters that require immediate release of funds.

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.

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.

Many informed historians have even alleged that the Red Cross was used as a Skull and Bones cover to overthrow The Russian Czar and pave the way for the rise of the Bolsheviks.

Do not give any money to the Red Cross unless you support the expansion of empire abroad and police state at home. Find a smaller trustworthy organization in the local area of New Orleans and make your donation to them.

This is my reason. Like it or not. I will not and cannot give to them.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial ... d=95001506

GIVING WELL

Advantage: God
Why the Salvation Army beats the Red Cross.

BY MARVIN OLASKY
Sunday, November 25, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST

The American Red Cross ran up a white flag recently, surrendering to critics who had accused it of bait-and-switch fund raising by planning to hold back more than half of the $543 million it had raised for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials pledged that just about all of the money (minus $49 million for overhead) would go to the victims for whom it had been given. Red Cross president Bernadine Healy had already resigned from her $450,010 position, but not before suffering a tongue-lashing from Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.). Reporting that some of his constituents had driven to New York City to give the Red Cross a check, Mr. Stupak said, "They expected that check to be used now, not two years from now."

Red Cross officials put up a reasonable defense: They had protected their organization's ability to help in the future by placing $200 million of the donations in a reserve fund and by planning to use millions more to improve the charity's infrastructure. What the $2.5 billion organization had forgotten, though, was American charity's "just in time" tradition: Keep a very low inventory; go with all the resources you have right now; when the next emergency hits, call upon the American people once again.

This is how charity has worked in the past. The Red Cross charged in on April 18, 1906, when an earthquake destroyed most of San Francisco and left at least 3,000 dead and tens of thousands homeless. Jack London ended his earthquake reporting in Collier's magazine by noting, about the Red Cross-led relief effort, "thanks to the immediate relief given by the whole United States, there is not the slightest possibility of a famine."

Churches and labor unions did crucial work. Local 442 of the Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters' Union voted "that all members would volunteer their services on relief work." Some 500 did, working for a week to repair broken pipes.

Big businesses, particularly railroads, volunteered to get supplies in quickly. The Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads made free shipments to San Francisco a priority. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Passengers on fast trains saw flying freights, every car labeled 'relief,' go by, while the passengers took the sidetrack."

By the time of San Francisco's 1989 earthquake, though, much of American charity had become bureaucratic, and San Francisco's Mayor Art Agnos complained that the Red Cross, after raising $50 million, was passing along only $10 million and banking the rest for use in future disasters and organizational expansion. After several weeks of complaints by contributors, the Red Cross relented. Critics also protested Red Cross holdbacks following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Red River flooding in 1997, and a San Diego wildfire early this year.

The pattern indicates a Red Cross perspective that is logical but tin-eared. Red Cross officials emphasize long-term planning rather than short-term reacting. They justifiably worry about a media-driven populace's tendency to write checks based on television coverage. They pay well, and don't see anything wrong in the CEO of a billion-dollar philanthropic outfit, who can't even receive stock options, earning big bucks.

The response of public opinion: Charities are different. They are expected to be bold and courageous, risking all like New York City firemen running into buildings when everyone else is rushing out. Leaders who play by normal business rules and pay themselves normal business salaries are stung.

Nor is this an impractical reaction. The evidence shows you don't have to be as heavily bureaucratized as the Red Cross (or the United Way, which has also been scandal-ridden) to be effective in the crunch. The $2.1 billion Salvation Army USA shows a different way to help. Peter Drucker has called the army the "most effective organization in the United States. No one even comes close to it with respect to clarity of mission, ability to innovate, measurable results, dedication, and putting money to maximum use."

The Salvation Army's response on Sept. 11 was impressive. Army officers and volunteers by the hundreds headed to New York City without even being asked. The army quickly set up 21 mobile feeding stations in Manhattan that served 300,000 meals during the 72 hours after the disaster. Worth magazine reported that the Salvationists were thoughtful enough to bring "hundreds of teddy bears to comfort the children of the victims, and Vicks VapoRub for the rescuers to smear inside their nostrils to cover the acrid stench of death and burning metal."

While the Red Cross practiced organizational damage control over the past month, several reporters noted that the Salvation Army pays its top executive, John Busby, $13,000 a year, plus frugal room, board and transportation expenses. The Army, with no marketing department and a slim public-relations staff, relies on attention generated by its well-known red shield and press coverage of its high-profile efforts. Army officers work long hours for little material reward, largely because of the attitude Mr. Busby offers interviewers: "I don't miss anything you can buy with money. I'm in the will of God, doing what he wants me to do. There's no higher purpose than that."

There's the catch: Salvationists believe in salvation, and they pass out Bibles along with hot meals. Their zeal is reflected in the organization's mission statement: "The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. . . . Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination."

Religious initiatives like the Salvation Army are growing these days, in part because they offer a striking alternative to bureaucracy-based hesitancy. The Red Cross can respond quickly to emergencies, but mayors and many others have criticized its understandable unwillingness to bet the farm every time out. Other charities, however, have a higher purpose than organizational survival. They, like others, need good management, but what gets them moving fast is faith in God.

Mr. Olasky is editor in chief of World magazine and a senior fellow of the Acton Institute.

http://www.charitynavigator.org


CEO PAY FYE 06/2004
Marsha Evans
President, CEO
Compensation: $450,008

Since you mention Red Cross, has anyone else been seeing the adds. With English and Spanish.

I haven’t seen them, but it doesn’t surprise me. Check out a recent Press Release.


http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=3764218
American Red Cross Launches New Spanish-Language Web Site

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the American Red Cross launches a new Spanish-language Web site, http://www.cruzrojaamericana.org, which offers Spanish speakers user-friendly access to critical preparedness information, news and an overview of services provided by the Red Cross. Featuring a new look and feel specifically geared towards Hispanic culture, the site has garnered the support of well-known celebrities, including Juanes, Emilio Estefan and Thalia.
Previous to the launch of http://www.cruzrojaamericana.org, Spanish- language visitors could access only limited information in Spanish on http://www.redcross.org. Through the new Web site, Spanish-language visitors can easily learn more about Red Cross services, news, how to prepare for disasters and how to register for more information. The site also features a search engine tool that allows visitors to find a local Red Cross chapter with Spanish-speaking capabilities.

Although the information offered through http://www.cruzrojaamericana.org is similar to the English http://www.redcross.org site, the Spanish-language Web site has a modified design -- created with the Spanish-speaking user in mind.

"Cruzrojaamericana.org is not just a translated version of Redcross.org," said Darren Irby, vice president of communication and marketing for the Red Cross. "This new site was tailor-made for the Hispanic community. We want this site to be the first place Spanish-speakers visit when they're cruising the Internet for news on disaster response and preparedness, information on how to give blood or details on first aid and CPR classes. We are excited to launch this site during hurricane season and in time for National Preparedness Month. The disaster preparedness information the site provides will allow readers to better safeguard their safety and that of their families."

This new site is part of a larger Hispanic outreach campaign, which includes an aggressive advertising campaign. This campaign features notable celebrities -- such as Thalia, Emilio Estefan, Juanes, Alex Syntec and Gabriela Spanic -- delivering important, upbeat messages about Red Cross services. To view print versions of these ads, or to learn more about the latest television ads, visit http://www.redcross.org/press/printads/misc/sp/.

"This site is one essential prong in a Red Cross campaign to reach out to the Hispanic community," said Irby. "We need to share with our Spanish- speaking audience what the Red Cross offers and how everyone can join us to help others in need."

The American Red Cross is where people mobilize to help their neighbors -- across the street, across the country and across the world -- in emergencies. Each year, in communities large and small, victims of some 70,000 disasters turn to neighbors familiar and new -- the nearly 1 million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross. Through almost 900 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world. Some 4 million people give blood -- the gift of life -- through the Red Cross, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The Red Cross helps thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a global network of 181 national societies, the Red Cross helps restore hope and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work. Marsha J. Evans is the President and CEO of the American Red Cross.

CONTACT: Ana Correa of the American Red Cross, +1-202-303-6817, cell:+1-202-437-4193, correaa@usa.redcross.org

Web site: http://www.redcross.org/http://www.cruz ... /misc/sp//

Disclaimer: Information contained on this page is provided by companies featured through PR Newswire. PR Newswire, WorldNow and this Station cannot confirm the accuracy of this information and make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

I remember the RC girls in Vietnam. I'll leave it at that and thats why I will not give to the red cross. Go with Salvation Army.

Originally Posted by Charlesoakisland

I remember the RC girls in Vietnam. I'll leave it at

Hmmmm.

The CEO of the Salvation Army in 2001 was paid 13K comapred to 450K. I sent the artcile to Ms Evens and asked her how she could justify a 450K salary. I wonder if she will respond....

If you were not a captian or above it seems they all had the 1st name and it started with Bit..

Originally Posted by Charlesoakisland

If you were not a captain or above it seems they all had the 1st name and it started with Bit..

What a same. My uncle fought in Vietnam, he never spoke about it. He was one mean drill sergeant. How sad that they would behave like that during a war. So I guess during a crises it wouldn’t be much different.

I do know that those people affected by the hurricane deserve better treatment than what they are getting. What a disgusting display of uncompassionate inactivity by those who we elected us to take care of us. How nice of Congress to reconvene a week after the disaster to pass a bill for emergency funding.

I am sending donations to a church in Baton Rouge. They are actually feeding and clothing the victims and those who fled before the storm. Asheville is getting ready to take some people and Charlotte is expected to start receiving people to help them. They should have been doing this days ago.

Another friend of mine tells a story of why he like his dad would not give to the RC. His dad during WWII landed in England on his way else where. Said that them RC girls charged him for the donut and coffee.