Red Cross??HAH, ask any vet about them and then compare their help to that of the Salvation Army, whonever asked for a nickel for their help, If you give, make it for them, the funds are used properly..

As with mosh complaints during times of crises, many people have to find a scapegoat upon which to vent their frustrations. The Red Cross is a convenient whipping boy for people who really are uninformed about its purpose, or the limitations placed upon it by other agencies or the situations at hand. Red Cross disaster operations are funded through donations from the American people, and it is staffed primarily by volunteers. It is chartered by the US Congress and the organization is required to provide disaster relief, although it gets NO government funding. If you are angry about something the Red Cross did (or did not do) to help you personally, consider the following:
1. Perhaps the service you requested was not something the RC was able to or was authorized authorized to provide;
2. There were not the volunteer staff available to meet your need at the moment you requested it;
3. There were limited resources;
4. There was miscommunication between agencies, mistakenly leading you to believe that the RC should be doing something it was not authorized to do (as in the above article);
5. The media gave erroneous information about what services would be available and when;
6. Someone made a mistake---it happens!! Likely, the person who made the mistake did not do it to hurt you personally, or to make your life more miserable. RC volunteers generally do not give up their personal time to annoy people who have been affected by disasters.

The Red Cross, as someone in the list above mentioned, IS a HUGE bureaucracy. That is because we have a HUGE country with many diverse needs. Recently, we have dealt with many HUGE disasters which tapped the resources of this and every agency beyond its capacity. The truly amazing thing about the Red Cross is that when a disaster occurs, the Red Cross can, overnight, organize and deploy a vast network of human and material resources which can and do, help millions of people each year. If you can do it better, I say get involved! Find out what the real challenges are to running a multimillion dollar agency that opens up, from the ground up, overnight.

The bottom line here, folks, is that we all have to be prepared to take care of ourselves when we need to. No government or volunteer agency is going to always be able to meet everyone's needs during large scale disasters or other events. The BEST thing the RC does is provide training BEFORE a disaster strikes. Other worthy government and volunteer agencies do this as well. I encourage everyone to take that training and then quit blaming everyone else (the government, RC, SA, etc.)for why things don't work effortlessly during a Class 4 hurricane. It's called life. Sometimes it's hard.

Luckily for millions of people over the years, (me included), the RC has been a lifesaver. Thanks to all the amazing volunteers who give so much--I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart! :)

In reading all of above with one exception my heartfelt sympathy goes to anyone who was mistreated or ignored when they needed help most. The individuals running those local red cross chapters should be ashamed of themselves. When our county suffered from an F4 category tornado in 02 - I don't recall seeing Red Cross come by, however, I do recall the local people, Amish, Catholic Charities, and CVS Pharmacy representatives coming by again and again to see if anyone needed assistance that day while we rebuilt. We are blessed here. Renee, La Plata Maryland

I have already posted once about the Red Cross (see above) but my family and I were mandatory evacuees from East Texas during Hurricane Rita. My sister lives in Oklahoma City and she wanted us to come up there. We came back to check on our home and found that we had lost all of our food (which I am sure 100% of the people did) and we had some damage to our home. We were without electricity and water. We went to the Red Cross for help (see above) Then we stopped at a Red Cross office in our small town. The man there was very nice but told us that the Red Cross was NOT giving out any money at all. The reporters in the media got it all wrong and he was sorry, but did we want a hot meal (see story above about the food) We ended up going back to OKC for a few days to get some "normal" life. Then we got word that if you evacuated to a different state then the Red Cross would help you. We went to the Red Cross office in OKC and, I will admit, met some of the nicest people that we had met to date. That is when we learned a VERY interesting fact. It seems that Red Cross had TWO lists....A and B. The A list had all of the counties that had been hit here in East Texas and Louisana. Our county was listed, but then they checked there "updated" list and low and behold there was only 4 counties listed on the list in Texas!!! All of them were the bigger cities!!! And where I live in the small towns around us there was MAJOR damage done to homes and businesses! Well, the nice man that helped us called the his director and his director told him that TEXAS Red Cross had changed the list and took off all of the other counties in this state without even looking over the counties to see if they needed help! I couldn't believe it! The director didn't like it either, so he told them to help us out.

I know in my posting above that it sounded like ALL of the Red Cross is horrible...........I don't belive that, I just believe that there needs to be some checks and balances in an organization that is that big! What right did Red Cross have to take off all of those small counties that desperately needed help!!! Well there was a big stink here and a story was written up in the Houston Chronicle.........and Red Cross showed back up (after the bad publicity) and started giving out food and cleaning supplies etc. I do appreciate all of the stuff that we got, we needed them and we used them. But again, I think something needs to be done about the Red Cross.......for one thing, they didn't have to lie to us when they told us to come back the next day (see above posting)They knew then that they were shutting down and leaving!

I do believe that MOST of the people that work for the Red Cross do so with a heart of gold and they really want to make a difference in people's lives. But that is just it...........they are VOLUNTEERS who get nothing except the love and appreciation that we can give them.......it is the upper management people who are getting paid (and paid well!) that needs the checks and balances.

So for all of you Red Cross volunteers, I want to say THANK YOU for the giving of your time and energy to help us here in East Texas! Most of you came just to help and to give and we do appreciate it. But to you upper management people, who do not get your hands dirty and find out what is really going on..........shame on you..........get out in the field and check things out! Be a volunteer yourself sometimes.......things might just surprise you!

For a " non profit " orginization , there sure are a lot of six figured saleries for the upper level management people in the red cross.

We gave NOTHING to the Red Cross during this emergency. Instead we helped our own family members who lived in Waveland. Clothing the entire family of 4 and helping with furniture and other basic necessities. We are not done yet. Many of our friends helped our family, because they won't give to THE RC. WHY -some are vets, others have had first hand dealings with the RC and feel they are always looking for a handout, but don't give a hand when really needed.

My contacts with the Red Cross were all positive, however I just needed limited assistance, not like a lot of folks who lost everything and were displaced. I appreciate everything they have done. As for the best charities,it has to be the churches. They have sent and are continuing to send supplies, money, and hard working people to help us. If you are looking for a charity that will spend your donation wisely, give to your local church.

Having distant ties to both New Orleans and the Bay/Waveland areas I was compelled to search the evacuee/survivor/missing lists for anyone I recognized. What I found were several listings of people having the same not so common last name as I who had been evacuated to Arkansas. In an attempt to offer whatever comfort I could I was not able to make contact even though all were registered with ADEMA and had been in shelters here. One such person was shown to be in an apartment less than 5 miles from my home yet the apartment manager knew nothing nor did the city housing authority shown as providing assistance. It was not like I asked for any information all I asked was to let these people know who I was and how to contact me, I was that certain we were related. I did not have a chance to make a difference in someone's life.

With all the IT on all the websites this is unacceptable SOP.

I too have had my problems with Red Cross. I too tried to volunteer I was mistakenly sent to Branden Ms instead of Montgomery Al. I was kept up for twenty four hours at a physcharatic hospital then released and waited for two days to come back home. From what I was told others had the same exsperience that were more exspirenced then I. I exspected to have all the information and did not ask enough questions. The card they gave me was not activated until I landed in Brandon. I was able to work out the payment of the flight. I tried to call and tell them they were sending me to the wrong place but I wasn't listened to then when I got there I didn't know where to go and I got told I wasn't needed and I wasn't soposed to be there. Some of this led me to go in the hospital for atempted susicide ( they knew my state of mind but I was released because no body thought anything was wrong with me) the good thing Red Cross finaly did the right thing and got my husband home from Iraq and a week later they called to make shure he was home. They give you a set amount of money but I was encouraged to use it for things I didn't need as to it was their fault I took enough to pay for parking and to get me through until I got back home. I agree with alot of thoughts that have been posted. Failure was all around no fellow persons deserve that type of treatment and not in America it was founded on better judgement

My husband and i lost everything we owned in hurricane Katrina. 1 week after the hurricane we relocated to Glasgow KY. We were very fortunenit to have alot of help here from the American Redcross. They put us up in an hotel for almost 3 weeks, donated clothing, food, and money to us. They also located an apartment for us to live in and, even helped pay on the deposit for rent and utilities. We were very blessed for all the out reach of help that has poured in from all of Ky, when word got around of our troubles. So please, stop bashing the American Redcross. Thank you. My husband and i were from PassChristian, Ms

Up here in Pennsylvania, people we know have no use for the Red Cross. They have been little help to anyone I know going back as far as WWII.
We give our money to the Salvation Army.