Keep in mind that the Red Cross does a lot more than disaster relief -- blood banks, CPR training, water safety training, etc. Even just considering disaster relief, there are a lot of costs involved in maintaining the equipment for disaster relief, transporting a team of volunteers, and maintaining them at a disaster site. All of that takes money. People who expect their entire Red Cross contributions to go directly to disaster victims are being a bit naive, in my opinion. That being said, I have also heard a lot of stories about the Red Cross similar to those others have reported. We do give regularly to the Red Cross, but usually make disaster relief contributions to the Salvation Army or our denomination's Disaster Relief Fund.
Julia in MN