The American Red Cross has fallen into dire criticism because of their refusal to help victims of Hurricane Harvey and other disasters and because of mismanagement. As evidence shows based off of recent disasters Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the Red Cross has been faced with criticism on the lack of assistance and supplies given to the victims. The institution needs to strategize new ways to fairly distribute assistance and supplies in order to prevent recurring problems in future events like these.
As evidence gathered from my research, I’ve found that the American Red Cross has been struck with financial issues and there has been a constant disagreement amongst politicians, journalists and average donors to the Red Cross about where their money that is donated is going exactly. There have been reports showing that money that people are donating in order to help victims is going elsewhere and only a small portion of the donations are actually going to help the victims.
According to the American Red Cross website, in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, through the Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, more than $643 million was distributed to the families affected by the disaster. Contrasting this, according to a report done by the Chicago Tribune and USA Today, only about half of the money in the Liberty Disaster Relief Fund went directly to the victims and families, $80-million went to other unrelated programs and $200 million were left sitting there, not yet determined on what it would be used for.
In the aftermath of the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, many people were left with nothing and were in need of food and shelter. It was up to programs such as the American Red Cross and the government agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide assistance to the victims. It became evident that relief to the victims was delayed because of a disagreement between the Red Cross and FEMA because they were unsure what duties each one was supposed to take care of. This led to widespread complaints that help was slow or in some cases, never arrived.
In the fall of the devastation, the American Red Cross reported that almost 68 million meals and snacks were distributed, more than 4 times the amount ever provided in past disaster relief efforts. The Red Cross also claims to have provided financial assistance to 1.4 million families affected by the Hurricane Katrina. Opposed to these reports, the Government Accountability Office conducted an investigation as a result of the complaints and found other concerns that interfered with the relief efforts. A few of these concerns included the Red Cross not having a sufficient number of trained staff so they had to rely on unpaid volunteers. Also, report states that the Red Cross rotated their employees every two or three weeks. Consequently, critical knowledge had to be relearned constantly, resulting in communication delays.
In a similar, more recent event, much of South Texas was struck by the monster storm Hurricane Harvey. After the hurricane hit, victims were left pleading for assistance while many were
denied. Victims also complained about the lack of supplies given to them by the Red Cross.
In reports made on the American Red Cross website, since the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, the American Red Cross has given financial assistance costing over $229 million that would help over 573,000 households.
Adam Hunt, a resident of South Texas and Harvey survivor, had been living in a tent on his property for a month after the storm hit. “We're kind of a forgotten neighborhood… the Red Cross was never really here”, Hunt said. Many have come forward sharing their stories about how little the Red Cross provided them considering how much was donated to the Red Cross for helping victims specifically. Many residents throughout Texas lost their homes in the storm and were left with nowhere to stay, and were left to rely on programs such as the Red Cross to help them in these horrific situations. The Red Cross announced they would be providing an “emergency financial assistance program that would give $400 to ‘qualified households’ affected by Harvey.” Since this announcement, many hopeful victims have come forward saying that their applications were either rejected or completely ignored.
Clara Barton was the center point of the formation of the American Red Cross and she believed that anyone who put their lives on the front line should be provided with assistance. This greatly translates into the American Red Cross that we have today which promises to provide assistance to any victim in any disaster. Unfortunately, it is evident that today’s American Red Cross has been overcome with many issues in fulfilling its promises. Sadly, over time it has become much harder for a victim or family members of victims to receive assistance after a traumatic event, contrasting Clara Barton’s true intentions.