OK... if you ask me, if you donate to the Red Cross, you're donating to the Red Cross... they see fit to do with the money what they want. When you donate to a charity, you don't tell them what to do with the money. The story below tells of "critics" being in an uproar because not ALL the money collected will be going to victims of the 9/11. I personally, think the Red Cross, should sock some of it away for future events... to me this is a non-issue but it seems a lot of people think otherwise. Enough people think otherwise to make the Red Cross change their decision. rH -------------------------------------- Red Cross: Liberty Fund to go to Sept. 11 victims By SHANNON McCAFFREY Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The American Red Cross said today it will use all the money donated to the Liberty Fund for people affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, reversing a plan to set aside some of the money for other needs. The Liberty Fund has collected $543 million. The Red Cross had planned to put about $200 million aside for use in the event of future terrorist attacks. That move drew a sharp rebuke from critics, who said the money donated to the fund was given under the assumption only people affected by the Sept. 11 attacks would get it. "We deeply regret that our actions over the last eight weeks have not been as sharply focused as the American public wants or the victims of this tragedy deserve," Red Cross interim CEO Harold Decker said at a news conference. Decker called the change a "course correction" and said among those eligible for the money will be survivors of the attacks and their families, those with homes damaged in the attacks and those unemployed because their workplaces are in lower Manhattan. He said $275 million would be paid out by the end of this year. Grants to families, which had been restricted to just three months of living expenses, will be extended to one year. About 9 percent of the total fund will pay overhead and administrative costs for distributing the money. Decker said it could take many years before all the money is spent. The Red Cross has stopped accepting donations to the fund, saying the amount collected so far is sufficient. The charity already has distributed about $121 million in direct aid to Sept. 11 victims and their families. Red Cross President Bernadine Healy is stepping down as head of the charity at the end of the year in part because of criticism of the fund. Healy took the unusual step of setting up the fund as a separate account to deal with the attacks, over the objections of some Red Cross board members. Healy was lambasted at a House hearing on charitable contributions last week after two widows who lost their husbands in the World Trade Center attack described how they have had to fight a maze of bureaucracy to obtain financial help. Lawmakers from both parties said they believed donors to the Liberty Fund contributed as generously as they did because they thought their money would be channeled quickly and directly to the victims and families of the attacks. Since Sept. 11, about 2,500 families have received Liberty Fund benefits, averaging about $25,000 per household. On Monday, the Red Cross said it would return donations to any contributor who requests a refund. The 37,000-employee American Red Cross administers almost half the nation's blood supply and provides relief to victims of disasters.
damn, you and me think a lot at times rockHEAD! ... I was just gonna post something real close to this....It is sad...I believe the relief agencies should have set up a separate fund and let people know about it right from the get-go....For example, If I wanted to give for 9/11 tragedy....then it should go where I want...and because Red Cross is one of the few relief agencies I trust, it would have been only right for them to do this.
They got really hammered on this issue; at least they announced their intentions-- which is honest no less. I guess the problem got to be when the funds made available by RX for 9/11 were deemed inadequate by the victims. The RX made it sound like the diverted funds were surplus-- which they were not.
Still, the administrators of the fund should have seen this coming. Honestly, I'm mildly surprised it made as much noise as it did.
Did it come across as false advertising to you guys? Situations like this are unfortunate. Red Cross is perhaps one of the most honorable and pristine charity groups in the world. And now, even they have gotten a punch to the gut in the aftermath of the tragedy. That sucks. It just sucks that people have been so screwed over that they actually have to rise to complain about the Red Cross. Pity.
