on Katrina
Aug. 29th, 2005 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Worked down by gate 18 today, where all the refugees from hurricanes were waiting for flights. Mostly Floridians, though I watched with a woman from Gulfport as Katrina made landfall on her house. That sucked.
One minor point I will contribute: A Floridian woman sitting at the bar, when I mentioned I was considering donating to the Red Cross to help out in the aftermath of Katrina, put her beer down firmly and said, "Don't."
"Don't?" I asked.
"No," she said. "After last year's awful hurricane the Red Cross didn't do shit. My neighbors were flat on their asses, and who helped them? It wasn't the goddamn Red Cross. They were nowhere to be seen."
"Oh?" I asked.
"No," she said. "They raised money and we never saw any of it. Well. I was OK, thank God, but some of my neighbors were really badly affected. The ones who helped them were the Salvation Army, and the local churches. If you want to help, and you have money, don't you give it to the Red Cross. Give it to the Salvation Army. Or a local church. Because the Red Cross uses most of the money to fundraise anyway. The Salvation Army was actually there helping people."
So there's two cents on hurricane relief from someone who was there. Not that I know anything about it, but there you have it.
p.s. this post was composed on my birthday present to myself, which I shall discuss in a later post most likely.
One minor point I will contribute: A Floridian woman sitting at the bar, when I mentioned I was considering donating to the Red Cross to help out in the aftermath of Katrina, put her beer down firmly and said, "Don't."
"Don't?" I asked.
"No," she said. "After last year's awful hurricane the Red Cross didn't do shit. My neighbors were flat on their asses, and who helped them? It wasn't the goddamn Red Cross. They were nowhere to be seen."
"Oh?" I asked.
"No," she said. "They raised money and we never saw any of it. Well. I was OK, thank God, but some of my neighbors were really badly affected. The ones who helped them were the Salvation Army, and the local churches. If you want to help, and you have money, don't you give it to the Red Cross. Give it to the Salvation Army. Or a local church. Because the Red Cross uses most of the money to fundraise anyway. The Salvation Army was actually there helping people."
So there's two cents on hurricane relief from someone who was there. Not that I know anything about it, but there you have it.
p.s. this post was composed on my birthday present to myself, which I shall discuss in a later post most likely.
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Date: 2005-09-05 02:12 am (UTC)Yes. About the Red Cross. I've heard that before. Very little of the money donated through them ever gets where it was headed. I believe there was some kind of stink over that for 9/11, but I'd heard it before then.