Local Red Cross chapter faces lack of donations
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
The local branch of the American Red Cross is once again struggling with a lack of funds, due in part to unusually high costs that it faced last year.
Marion County is served by the Sunflower Red Cross chapter, based in McPherson. The chapter provides disaster relief services to both McPherson and Marion counties.
Financial woes aren't new to this chapter. Funds have been declining for the past few years, said Patty Robinson, director of the Sunflower chapter.
"This has been an ongoing thing," Robinson said. "We keep getting further and further behind."
But two recent factors have posed the most trouble for the chapter: an extremely busy fall fire season, and more donation money going to national causes after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"It's a combination of a lot of things," Robinson said.
A lot of local charity organizations have seen a decline in donations after Sept. 11.
"It really hurts nonprofits," she said. People saw the need for the victims' families, and they donated to that cause rather than an organization closer to home.
An unusually expensive fiscal year has also brought Sunflower Red Cross funds down this year.
In the chapter's fiscal year of 2001, which ran from July 2000 to June 2001, the Sunflower Chapter spent more than $36,000 to assist local families and disaster workers.
This amount is drastically higher than previous years — in the 2000 fiscal year, the chapter spent approximately $10,000, in 1999, that amount neared $11,000, and in 1998, the amount was approximately $4,700.
Why the huge increase in 2001? A high number of fires kept the Red Cross busy during the fall of 2000, Robinson said. In Marion County alone, there were three Peabody fires, one Florence fire, one in Tampa, two in Marion, and one in Burns.
Add that together with the several fires that also struck McPherson County, and it was an unusually busy season, Robinson said.
It's impossible to predict what disasters may occur during a given year, Robinson said.
The McPherson chapter also had another recent expense: moving into a new building.
"There's only so much money to go around," Robinson said.
The Sunflower chapter usually has two main fundraising drives, one in August and one in December, during which it sends out mailings asking for donations. In August, the fundraiser is directed only at Marion County — that's because the McPherson United Way also has a fundraising drive during that time, and the two organizations try not to overlap, Robinson said.
During the drive of August 2000, the Red Cross chapter sent out 200 mailings to Marion and McPherson county homes. In August 2001, the chapter increased that number to 500 mailings seeking donations.
And December 2001's fundraising drive, with another round of mailings going to both counties, the chapter received almost $3,000 less than normal, Robinson said.
Forty percent of Red Cross funds come from the United Way, Robinson said. The rest come entirely from donations.
The type of aid that the Red Cross offers varies greatly, from providing food and shelter for a family who just lost their home to a fire to bringing sandwiches and drinks to rescue workers at the scene of a drowning. They also respond to people's needs after a flood, tornado, or train derailment.
The Red Cross is probably most known in this area for their aid to families who've gone through house fires. For those families, the Red Cross provides a place to stay and vouchers for everything from food to clothing to basic furniture to refurnish their new home.
Although all Marion County law enforcement, fire, and EMS personnel know about the services the Red Cross provides and are quick to involve the organization if a family needs help, Robinson feels that the Sunflower chapter could do more.
"Any time we're needed, we're there," Robinson said.
