Red Cross ‘Jailbirds’ Raise $17,000 in Bail

The American Red Cross swept the streets of the San Fernando Valley of 24 “do-gooders” last week in their annual Jail-and-Bail fund-raiser, according to Julia Montez, executive director of the Red Cross’ Valley district office in Van Nuys.

Volunteers turned themselves in to the Red Cross to be “arrested,” after which they were given the choice of handing over a minimum of $300 in bail or getting thrown in the slammer, where they could make as many calls as they needed to get pledges from friends and relatives to cover their bail costs.

The money raised by these generous “criminals” totaled $17,000, Montez said, and will be used to keep the Valley office in operation.

Montez herself was among the jailbirds, raising nearly $4,000.

She divulged her secret to collecting donations: “You have to tell them that it saves lives. . . . That it’s not just keeping the lights on and the doors open.”