They are out of money and in need of volunteers who can spend a few weeks with them to help the flood victims in the heartland. For the flood relief program, they’ve only raised $3.2 million and have spend $15 million of borrowed money.
Ken Cromer/Red Cross Disaster Services: ‘A lot of the people that are able to go for two and three weeks, they’re retired.. They have the time available now to go out and make a difference. Plus a lot of them, they saw what happened here in Ivan and the help that they received and it helps them go out and help other people.’ The Red Cross is still looking for dozens of volunteers to help, especially as the flooding continues south into Oklahoma And Texas.
I think we know where all the money went.
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.
This disaster seems to me to be a lot worse than what happened in New Orleans after Katrina passed. So why is it that there is not some publicity for help for these victims? Is the media too lazy to find the victims to tell the story? I don’t see Democrats in Washington jumping in front of TV cameras yelling at Bush. It is as if they are ignoring the victims because they don’t see a political advantage in trying to help them. Don’t they care about middle America? Where is the outrage, the 24/7 call for help? Where’s Hollywood in all this? Why the relative silence in the face of such a widespread tragedy? Or is the aid getting to the people, all evacuees have a roof over their head, and there’s nothing to be gained by accusing Bush of totally improving FEMA? But I haven’t seen any such stories. Like I said, you probably wouldn’t anyway. You have to ask yourself, what’s different here?
related link: American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted | American Red Cross – Donate Now
