He donated in Germany, thinking they were for local use. But they were shipped to Bosnia and sold at a local flea market.
On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake struck Indonesia, killing over 277,000 and causing massive destruction, including from huge tsunami waves.
I made a large donation for disaster relief to the American Red Cross.
They did not cash the check until April, after immediate disaster relief had been completed. In fact, they began using the money to build community housing, sewage systems and other infrastructure, functions not normally performed by the Red Cross.
In the fall they mailed a receipt for the donation – except it was not my receipt nor my donation. They had mailed me someone else’s receipt.
There were other issues that came up around that time too and did not give confidence in donating to the Red Cross. This is a problem for many charities – poor record keeping, poor management. Hopefully, public stories, like the above, or mine, will lead to efficiency and management improvements.
I left the Red Cross where I had been a disaster services volunteer for much of the prior 20 years and discontinued making donations. (There were more issues than those I have described here.)
