American Red Cross Persuasive Essay

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Miss Kirk Pre-Diploma English II 3 November 2014 Should we donate to the Red Cross? “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” (Churchill). The revered Red Cross has been known to donate and give in times of needs, but after Sandy hit this was not the case. Due to the impetuous actions of the American Red Cross in reference to Sandy, we should not donate to the Red Cross. A lot of people give money to charities in general to boost their public image, feel good about themselves or to find a tax write-off. It is a sore evil in America. While an estimated 18,000 children continue to starve to death daily throughout the world, and others eat bugs to survive, America's biggest charities continue to pay their top executives…show more content…
The Move-In Assistance program proved to leave many homeless. As stated in a Wall Street Journal article, “The Red Cross has come under criticism in recent months for its handling of a program to help Sandy victims make a transition from temporary to permanent, sustainable housing” (Elliott and Eisinger). A vast majority would agree that the transition from a temporary to permanent housing would be beneficial for these victims. Ben Smilowitz had said “The Red Cross changed eligibility rules for the move-in program midcourse, leaving as many as 1000 New Yorkers in the lurch” (West). As many as 1,000 lives could have been saved. Reports say “some applicants to the program were incorrectly included” (West). With that said, the Red Cross now seems unfair and irresponsible. The extra $6 million being put into the program would “…allow The Red Cross to honor its past promises of eligibility and assistance” (West; Shapiro). However, that sounds unconvincing in terms of unprofessional…show more content…
There is no guarantee that the money you donated to these organizations was actually used for disaster relief. People's brains go from the television to the telephone with their credit card. You'd think they'd take time out to do a little research to learn where all the money is going. Hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars, and they refuse to tell the Better Business Bureau (BBB) where the money is going? People should only give to local New Testament churches or local community charities, where you can see exactly how every dollar is being spent. These big organizations usually put a lot of bias and emotion into their advertisements. Who do you think will appreciate your money more... some fat cat charity or a struggling family who has no income? Works Cited Beekman, Daniel. “American Red Cross still has over $100 million in Hurricane Sandy relief aid- 7 months later”. New York Daily News. 28 May 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. Elliot, Justin and Jessie Eisinger. “Long After Sandy, Red Cross Post-Storm Spending Still a Black Box”. ProRepublica. 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. Red Cross. “Red Cross Superstorm Sandy Expenses and commitments Through August 31, 2014-$310M”. Red Cross. 31 Aug. 2014. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. Shapiro, Gary. “The American Red Cross, Occupy Sandy and Americans Helping Each Other”. Forbes. 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. West,
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