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Local Red Cross Remains Confident It Can Handle Storms

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2008

Troubles with a national disaster relief fund are not expected to pose a problem if a hurricane hits Florida.

Area Red Cross officials say their agency still will be able to provide shelter, drinking water and other emergency aid.

The Tampa Bay area chapter, which is made up of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, is confident help would come from its national office despite the recent struggle to replenish the agency's Disaster Relief Fund in the wake of flooding in the Midwest.

"The Red Cross has been around for 126 years," said Abi Weaver, a spokeswoman with the Tampa Bay chapter.

If local chapters can't meet the need, the national organization would step in with money, she said, even if that means the Red Cross would have to borrow the money.

"The National Disaster Relief Fund is kind of our safety net," said Laureen Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Central Florida chapter that represents 13 counties, including Polk and Highlands. Even without that net, the Red Cross will deliver emergency aid as it always has, she said.

The national Red Cross has spent about $50 million toward relief efforts in the areas hit hard by flooding, depleting most of the agency's national disaster fund. To continue providing services, the Red Cross is borrowing money from large banks across the country and struggling to raise $35 million for disaster relief.

Locally, Red Cross chapters have their own disaster relief funds that they use every day, Weaver said. The Bay area chapter just gave cash to help 11 people find housing after an apartment fire in Largo left them homeless. The agency helps out with about 400 disasters each year, Weaver said.

But just like their national branch, local Red Cross chapters struggle for donations. In Central Florida, donations on average are down 60 percent, Martinez said. Polk and Highlands saw a 26 percent decrease.

Some of that is because of the poor economy, she said, but also because floods historically don't receive the kind of outpouring of donations seen with other national disasters, particularly hurricanes.

Weaver of the Tampa Bay area chapter couldn't provide any statistics about decreased donations but said her agency grapples with the same downward trend affecting nonprofit organizations nationwide.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.

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