American Red Cross Relief Fund Is $28 Million in Debt

The American Red Cross disaster relief fund is $28 million in debt after two straight years of record-breaking numbers of storms, floods and other disasters, the organization reported Thursday.

“We have a very difficult situation,” said Elizabeth Hanford Dole, president of the Red Cross, in issuing the organization’s second major appeal to the public for funds in less than a year.

In February, 1991, the Red Cross set a goal of $30 million in announcing a fund-raising campaign for Persian Gulf War relief.

This time, no figure was announced as a goal.

Dole said that in addition to seeking contributions, the organization has put a freeze on hiring, restricted travel and ordered a moratorium on new equipment purchases. She said other steps will include the elimination of some Red Cross functions, but she did not say what they will be.

“We are very aggressively trying to cut back at the same time we are calling on the American public to assist us,” Dole said.

She said there were more than 8,000 of what are classified as major disasters last year, far more than the usual number. In addition, she said the cost of disaster relief has risen.

The total cost of disaster relief to the organization in the 1990-91 fiscal year was listed at $184 million. That figure included $7 million to help 8,800 Louisiana families displaced by torrential rains and flooding, $2.2 million to assist 15,000 victims of a spring ice storm in western New York, $2.2 million for Kansas tornado victims and $4.7 million for 4,700 Texas families flooded out of their homes.

Although it is designated by Congress as the primary responding voluntary organization in times of disaster, the American Red Cross is supported by public and corporate donations.