After Haiti Visit, Congresswoman Says She Saw No Sign Of Red Cross

[babylonsister]

http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2010/April/09/GH-040910-Haiti.aspx


After Haiti Visit, Congresswoman Says She Saw No Sign Of Red Cross

Friday, April 09, 2010

After a visit to Haiti, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Thursday that she did not see evidence of the organization during a trip to the country earlier this week with Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kristin Gilibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), The Hill's Washington Scene reports. "We were actually pretty struck by the fact that we didn't see the Red Cross anywhere, at all," she said (O'Brien, 4/8).

CBS News' "Political Hotsheet" blog notes that the Red Cross "has collected more than $409 million in donations, including more than $32 million from a text message donation campaign facilitated by the State Department and promoted by the White House" (Condon, 4/8). "President Barack Obama established a fund in the wake of the disaster, headed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, to ensure proper handling of donations to relief efforts," The Hill's Washington Scene reports.

In response to a question about whether the Red Cross was the best place to direct donations, Wasserman Schultz said, "I wouldn't say that." She added that she could not "unequivocally" recommend group. "I'm not disparaging the Red Cross, but I personally and the senators I was traveling with want to inquire as to what the Red Cross is doing down there," she said (4/8).

For its part, the Red Cross said in a statement that it "has been on the ground responding in Haiti since the moment the earthquake struck and has spent a record $110 million so far for food, water, shelter, health and family services," according to CBS News' blog. "Those efforts just may not be so visible on the ground, a Red Cross spokesperson told Hotsheet, because the Red Cross relies largely on local Red Cross workers and volunteers. They may not be as conspicuous, but they know the people, the language and the geography, and they have established relationships with other organizations and the government" (4/8).

In related news, Fox News examines U.N. spending in Haiti. The article focuses on the U.N. World Food Program's use of two passenger ships for housing its employees (Russell, 4/8).

[Captain Hilts]

1. Reason #4,317 to hate the Red Cross. nt

[murielm99]

2. My dad is a World War II veteran.

He would never let us give money to the Red Cross through school. He said that whenever he ran into them overseas, they charged the G.I.s for anything they did for them. The one exception was a time his whole unit was down with hepatitis, and the Red Cross gave them free donuts and coffee.

I remember the peer pressure in school when we were sent home with little Red Cross boxes to collect coins from our families and neighbors and my parents would not let me take part in it.

[leftofcool]

3. My dad, also a WW2 vet, told me the same thing.

[Captain Hilts]

4. With my family it goes back to WWI and the Johnstown flood of '36. WWII was

just the icing on the cake.

I donate platelets at Walter Reed and they said they get a lot of older, first-time donors because folks don't want to give to the Red Cross. Military folks hate 'em.

[Warpy]

5. That was a deal the ARC struck with the IRC

because it was policy for the latter to charge for coffee and donuts and the like. My dad resented it, too, and preferred to give to Aunt Sally, an organization that did give goodies to the troops free of charge.