The Red Cross story was reported in the Chicago Tribune last week. My husband has been encouraging people to donate via a Fire Dept. Fund. His department has been funneling the money to the New York Fire Dept for the families of the firemen who died. We figured that the Red Cross and some of the other charities would take their cut off of the top first. Marilyn; Lake Co. Illinois ************************************ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Lenkner" <alenkner@stargate.net> To: <PA-PITTSBURGH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 10:41 PM Subject: [PITTSBURGH] 911 donations : Listers, : : Some of you may recall that I made negative comments about the Red Cross : and United Fund soliciting donations for the victims of New York, : Washington and Westmoreland County. I just received this from my cousin : Peggy who lives in Kansas. I had heard rumors to this effect but don't : watch TV often, save the news. Peggy didn't write this. She just sent it : to a few friends and relatives but I thought that it was important that : others, who aren't glued to the boob tube, might be warned against further : solicitations. This is exactly as received from Peggy but I eliminated the : '>' marks for easier reading. : : Al : : : : 911 Donations : : : At the latest count, over 1 billion dollars has been raised by donations of : the public in the name of helping firefighters, police and other victims of : the 9-11 emergencies in NYC and Washington, DC. There are about 6000 victims. : : : $1,000,000,000 split 6000 ways $167,000 per family of each victim. : : Less than $3000 per family has actually been given out or allocated by : these do-good organizations. As was reported on the O'Reilly Report, : organizations like United way have not given any money at all even though : they have collected $150 million in the name of the victims. They said that : they will "withhold" (keep) 15% of the total monies for their efforts in : collecting the money and only pass 85% down to other organizations who will : also withhold some percentage of the money for their administrative costs : such as salaries, offices, utilities and other operational costs of those : charities. SO this crisis is windfall for these organizations. : : I am outraged at this and asking why my senator and representative don't : demand a governmental inquiry and accounting. In my opinion this is a much : bigger deal than the few gas stations who have spiked prices : immediately following the attacks. Please do your part and start to ask : where is the money? Who got it, where, when and why? : : At the same time that some organizations have become unduly rich over this : tragedy, most other philanthropic organizations have become poor and report : that they have hardly received any donations since Sept 11th. : : Rush Limbaugh, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill O'Reilly have said they will stick : with this story until all the money is accounted for, but it is clear that : it is not going where we had intended it go. : : PS According to CNN the Red Cross stated that they were no longer going to : ask for money for the 9/11 catastrophy...(they have already collected : billions of money that people thought were going to the families of the : ones that need help so desperately. What they have done is give the ones : that can prove hardship : money for one months rent or house payment, or other such paltry amounts.etc. : : PLEASE PASS THIS ON, AS I HAVE, TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. MAYBE WE : : WILL GET AN ANSWER FROM SOMEWHERE! : : : : ==== PA-PITTSBURGH Mailing List ==== : Check out these COMMUNITY LISTS: MyStErY, Horror, SAHM, M-W-C, Nost-TV, Palm-Gen, and Westie : : ============================== : Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 : Source for Family History Online. Go to: : http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1237 :