Red Cross says disaster funds are depleted

[LaurenG]

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press

DES MOINES -- The American Red Cross said on Monday that its Disaster Relief Fund is wiped out and it's being forced to borrow money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest.

Jeff Towers, the organization's chief development officer, said the balance for domestic disaster relief efforts is zero. He said the American Red Cross would borrow to keep workers and volunteers in the field helping flood victims.

"The Red Cross remains committed to providing the scale of services that people expect of the Red Cross when disaster strikes, and the way that we are doing that right now is taking out loans to fund our response," he said during a conference call from Washington. "That's not a position we want to be in; it's obviously not sustainable."

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.

http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1437574.html

[The Blue Flower]

1. Have we drowned the govt in the bathtub yet?

nt

[gateley]

2. And more people are unable to donate due to the

exorbitant costs of living we're experiencing.

[LaurenG]

3. So we know what to expect should this happen to us.

No funds from the Red Cross and where is FEMA?

I think we had better hope that we have neighbors who like us enough to volunteer to feed and cloth us and help us clean up. :(

[trotsky]

4. We can't forget - THIS is what Republicans promote as the alternative to gov't.

Private charities and groups are supposedly more than able to pick up the slack by defunding government. I mean, with all the tax cuts given to them, people were supposed to have been donating it all! Are you trying to tell me they didn't?

[LaurenG]

5. It looks like it didn't turn out the way the republicans had planned

and you know we can't help our own (still) because we have to "git them terraists" instead. x(