In Search Of The Red Cross' $500 Million In Haiti Relief

[IDemo]

When a devastating earthquake leveled Haiti in 2010, millions of people donated to the American Red Cross. The charity raised almost half a billion dollars. It was one of its most successful fundraising efforts ever.

The American Red Cross vowed to help Haitians rebuild, but after five years the Red Cross' legacy in Haiti is not new roads, or schools, or hundreds of new homes. It's difficult to know where all the money went.

NPR and ProPublica went in search of the nearly $500 million and found a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success, according to a review of hundreds of pages of the charity's internal documents and emails, as well as interviews with a dozen current and former officials.

The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people, but the number of permanent homes the charity has built is six.

http://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief

[mainer]

1. Send your money to Doctors Without Borders instead

This article about Red Cross enrages me.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. They have been a favorite charity of mine for years.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. That's what we did.

I have profoundly distrusted and avoided giving to RC for years.

[daleanime]

12. +1

[lostnfound]

14. I sent half to Doctors without Borders, and half to Partners in Health

Partners In Health founded by Dr. Paul Farmer who was the subject of a book "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. Very effective, efficient organization in Haiti.

[Divernan]

2. Thank god Clinton Foundation "facilitated" a $45 million luxury hotel in Haiti

so potential corporate investors cough/boodsuckers looking to take advantage of cheap labor/cough could visit in comfort. Those damned ungrateful, greedy Haitians (do I need a sarcasm emoticon?) expected the Clinton Foundation to direct the "donations" cough/bribes/cough to replace housing destroyed by the earthquake. But that $45 million was used to build a 173 room hotel. That works out to $260,000 per room. Way to go, Clinton Foundation! ! ! Five star all the way for corporate investors & your next glittery gathering in Haiti for photo ops.

Once all of the carnage was assessed, more than 100,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people were left without homes and Haiti's government put the death toll at 316,000, according to ABC News.

Five years later, after billions of dollars of aid and donations, many are still living in abject poverty created by the earthquake. NBC News notes that while some $13 billion went to the country, more than "85,000 people still live in crude displacement camps and many more in deplorable conditions."

NBC News does note that while many of the roads destroyed by the earthquake have been repaired and some businesses have been rebuilt, very few people displaced by the massive quake have acquired permanent housing.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/_5_years_after_massive_earthquake_where_is_haiti_now.html

Two years after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Haiti's capital, a deal brokered by former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation will add new lodging for aid workers and other travelers to Port-au-Prince -- in the form of a $45 million hotel.

With only about 500 operable hotel rooms, the city has limited space to house aid workers, potential investors and other visitors, according to a news release Monday by the future hotel's owner and its operator.

Caribbean cell phone provider Digicel will own the hotel, which will have 173 new rooms and create 175 new jobs. Marriott Hotels and Resorts will operate the hotel upon completion in 2014. Construction is set to begin in 2012.

[zeemike]

6. So charity money builds a luxury hotel

Which is owned and operated by a private company?
Who is that charity for?

[Divernan]

11. Murky, but Clinton Foundation pays itself for "facilitating", i.e,

they line up funding from corporations and foreign governments, and skim a share off the top for their services. The Clinton Foundations has invested hundreds of its millions with an outfit run by the woman who was a classmate & matron of honor at Chelsea's wedding. That woman's husband is a partner with Chelsea's husband in his Eagle hedgefund. Is some or all of that $250 million parked in that hedgefund? Inquiring minds want to know.

Another flashpoint came in 2013, when the foundation was renamed the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, an elevation of the Clintons’ daughter that struck some of the old guard as presumptuous and troubling. It was one thing, they grumbled, to add the name of a former first lady who had also been elected a United States senator and was coming off an acclaimed stint as secretary of state—but their kid?

They worried that the family was letting her use the foundation to establish herself as a serious player in her own right. She expanded the foundation mission into new causes—including curbing elephant poaching and ivory harvesting—that seemed peripheral to its core missions of fighting AIDS, climate change and childhood obesity, or Hillary Clinton’s efforts to increase opportunity for women and girls.

And some rolled their eyes when the foundation’s $250 million was invested with a firm called Summit Rock Advisers where Chelsea Clinton’s best friend Nicole Davison Fox is managing director. The two were classmates at Sidwell Friends School and Davison Fox interned in the Clinton White House. She later served as matron of honor in Clinton’s wedding, and her husband was a founding employee of the hedge fund started by Clinton’s husband, Marc Mezvinsky.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/clinton-foundation-eric-braverman-115598_Page3.html#ixzz3c6DqGeU1

[MisterP]

20. but remember, kiddos, it's not a Haitian luxury hotel unless Graham Greene's sitting in it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Oloffson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comedians_%28novel%29

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. VICE did a very good story on this a few weeks ago, also. n/t

Essentially almost all of the so called "Haiti" relief funds fro various sources never reached the mass population in any meaningful way.

[Cryptoad]

4. What is amazing to me is,,,,,

that people are still unaware of the Red Cross real purpose...... this is has been going on for decades....... you can do some serious scamming in the name of Goodness!

[PeoViejo]

5. Red Cross stats.

Be sure to note the Diversion of Assets stat and click on it for an explanation.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277

[daleanime]

13. Thank you....

[sammythecat]

15. Couldn't find anything called "Diversion of assets" n/t

[PeoViejo]

17. Try this link:

openBrWindow('http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=glossary.word&gid=56&print=1','glossary','scrollbars=yes,width=760,height=400')

[turbinetree]

8. Time for an independant investigation......................

Then we get this rosy picture of the CEO of the American red Cross:

http://www.redcross.org/gail-j-mcgovern

And then we get her salary

http://snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp

[PeoViejo]

18. There's a reason it's called a Non-Profit:

Salaries and other boondoggles eat-up the contributions...

There are much more responsible Charities to donate to.

[turbinetree]

19. You are so correct

I do not give to the American Red Cross -----------never have

[mountain grammy]

9. Money corrupts.. have we learned that yet?

Never.

[Divernan]

16. K&R

[quadrature]

21. WJC LLC ...Bill Clinton's shell compamy..does exactly what? ...nt

[Blue_Tires]

22. shameful

I gave those assclowns a lot of money...

[Jesus Malverde]

23. bump...nt