Local Red Cross Faces Funding Crisis

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Since 1917, the local chapter of the Red Cross has been providing disaster relief and other services to local residents. Unless they receive more local support right away, they’re in imminent danger of closing or being taken over by another chapter.

“We’ve passed the crisis point,” says Public Support Coordinator Jeri Campana, who is helping to organize the current Heroes for the American Red Cross fundraising campaign and other fundraising activities. The goal is to raise $75,000, which won’t even cover the amount of funds they need to pay back other chapters.

The local Red Cross serves Williamsburg and James City County, Surry, West Point, King and Queen County and other nearby areas. The organization offers health and safety classes; disaster services that provide housing, clothing and food to citizens; blood drives and related services and various services to the armed forces.

Last year, the local chapter helped 15,929 individuals through all its various services. Their annual budget is about $500,000.

This week, the Colonial Virginia Red Cross has been providing shelter at a local hotel for six families in the Grove community in James City County who had their homes destroyed by Saturday’s tornado. As of Monday, the local chapter has spent $1,700 to help these families.

The organization’s funding crisis started with the recession, which has affected nonprofits across the nation and within the Historic Triangle for several years. People were tightening their belts and contributing less, according to Campana, which the local Red Cross felt, just like other nonprofits.

Another blow came with the disasters in Haiti and, more recently, Japan. When people send checks to the local Red Cross and earmark the funds to other disaster areas, the local chapter sends 100 percent of the money to the designated location. Those checks mean fewer dollars for local needs, Campana says.

The recession also means agencies such as the United Way have reduced funding to the Red Cross due to reduced budgets over the past several years. The Red Cross gets no funding from Williamsburg or James City County, though they’ve requested help. They asked James City County for $500 in the current budget cycle and were turned away.

According to James City County’s Emergency Management Director Kate Hale, “the ability of the Red Cross to provide services on a local level is critically important.

“If it were no longer to exist [locally], this changes a paradigm which has been long established in disaster response… and this would impact the responses of social services. The Red Cross isn’t just there for big disasters, but for small emergencies, too.”

According to Diana Hutchens, James City County’s director of social services, if the local Red Cross were to close its doors the county would need to provide sheltering services for citizens in emergency situations (social services currently takes over when Red Cross assistance ends). Should shelters be opened during a disaster, localities would also need to have enough staff to run them. The county would also likely have to offer additional services to victims of fire to provide them temporary shelter and services as well as take over the training services provided by the Red Cross.

The local chapter needs about $30,000 a month to operate and offer services, Campana says. “If we don’t get it together in the next few months, we’ll be taken over, maybe by Hampton,” she said. This means the office could close completely or possibly remain a satellite office for whichever Red Cross ends up covering the area.

In the event of a major local disaster such as a hurricane, a main service office located in Hampton would need to send volunteers and staff to the area and battle distance, time and road conditions, says Campana. “There would be longer waits and less help available, because their priority is there, not here.”

To donate funds or for more information call the Red Cross office at 253-0228 or visit the Colonial Virginia Chapter website.