[CSB]

This is probably beyond the scope of a post on a thread, but here goes:

It is not and never has been the role of the Red Cross to pay college tuition for orphans whose fathers were killed in 911. Or pay off the mortgages or car notes of the widows. Or reimburse business owners for loss of business or property damaged or destroyed. The big mistake that was made by Mrs. Bush (the President's wife) and others (including, I regret to say, the former Chair of the American Red Cross) was to EVER tie donations to a specific disaster.

There never should have been -- and never will be again -- a "911 Fund" --emergency appeal. Funds are solicited for ALL disasters, and are distributed based on needs of people under the first fundamental principle of the Red Cross: "Humanity."

The role of the Red Cross is to assist victims of ALL disasters
with humanitarian needs:

Food,
Clothing,
Shelter,
Medical Attention.

That's about as basic as it gets.

And somehow that got way out of whack when over one billion dollars (that's $1,000,000,000.00) was contributed.

Because whenever Red Cross contributions exceed needs, the rest is saved for the next disaster, whether it be an earthquake, or wild fires, or a tornado.

=====

So consider the situation of a stock broker widow from 911:

"Ma'am, do you have a place to stay?
"Why yes, I have our house on Long Island, and the summer place in Florida."

"Do you have food to eat?"
"Well of course silly, our pantry is full, and I've got American Express, VISA and Mastercard with some of the finest resturants in the world within blocks of here."

"Do you need clothing?"
(Gives interviewer a scathing look) "Do I look like I need clothing?"

"Are you in need of medical attention?"
"Well, I'm going to need some time with my therapist over this, and even
after my health insurance, my co-pay will easily be $1,000 for the next year."

"Ma'am, here's $1,000 for your mental health co-pay." ... "Next."

=====

Or a Pentagon servicemember who was burned:

"Sir, do you have a place to stay?"
"I'm a Sergeant, don't call me sir, I work for a living. Of course I have a place to stay. I've got a house, paid for by BAQ that won't stop just because I'm here at the San Antonio Burn Center."

"Do you need clothing?"
"Yeah, the Claims Judge Advocate only approved about half of my claim for my Class B's that they cut off of me. Said something about "depreciation." That's easily $150 loss right there."

"Do you need food?"
"Hell no, I don't need food. You think they don't feed me here?"

"Do you need medical attention?"
"Are you f-cking blind, I'm getting free medical care at the best medical facility in the world, all while still drawing full pay and allowances."

"Yes sir, I mean, yes Sergeant. Here's $150 to help you get a new uniform."

=====

Now that's two claimants, with a total expense of $1,150.00. But (do the math): One Billion Dollars divided by 3,000 victims = $333,000 per person.

[By the way, there were billions more dollars voted by the Congress that went to the victim's families and were used to pay for college tuition, paid off mortgages, and so on.]

The blunt fact is: Probably less than one tenth of the billion dollars donated was properly payable to the victims of the 911 attacks under the standards long established by the Red Cross for disaster relief. Many of the victims and the survivors of the deceased simply did not qualify for any financial assistance under Red Cross disaster funding formulas. They were not homeless, hungry, without proper clothing or in need of medical attention.

But there we were, with more money than necessary, and some Chapters -- rightly or wrongly -- put donations into local funds for victims of house fires, or tornados. After all, it's hard to tell a truly homeless family standing outside their burning house wrapped in a blanket that the Red Cross donations at the chapter office are on their way to New York to pay off the car payment on some orphan's BMW. The money should go to those with the greatest and most immediate need.

But as a result of the uproar over payments to the "911 Fund" going to tornado victims in Oklahoma, Red Cross declared that ALL 911 funding would be given out solely to victims and survivors of that specific disaster, leaving the rest of our country short. As a result, in my personal opinion, we (the Red Cross) then wasted the donations by making payments from the 911 Fund that should not have been made.

=====

The key issue with respect to this thread: NONE of the 911 donations, or any other donations, were pocketed by Red Cross workers, or used to pay bribes to any government officials, or used for First Class Airline tickets and four star hotels, or limo rentals. Most of the assistance, even when given to those who did not have bona fide needs under Red Cross standards, was administered by ... ready for this ... unpaid volunteers.