NEW YORK — The worsening recession, coupled with a seasonal surge of house fires, has depleted the resources of many American Red Cross chapters as they struggle to meet rising demands at a time of dwindling donations.
Red Cross staff have been laid off in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif.; in western Oregon; Minnesota’s Twin Cities; Tampa, Fla.; and elsewhere. Office hours have been cut back, salaries trimmed, training programs scrapped.
The small Southwest Georgia chapter, based in Albany, has turned down the heat in its office to save money as contributions have fallen by more than 60 percent from the previous year.
“We’re wearing thicker socks and more sweaters,” said the chapter’s executive director, Mari Wright.
However, Wright, like her counterparts running other hard-pressed chapters, voiced determination to maintain core disaster-response services in her economically distressed 11-county region.
“We cannot not be here,” she said. “People look to us.”
Among the chapters reporting tight budgets because of heavy fire-response work is the Pikes Peak chapter in Colorado Springs, which says this is the busiest fire season in its 97-year history.
With the Red Cross fiscal year not ending until June 30, there are no overall statistics on the finances of its more than 700 chapters, but Suzy DeFrancis, chief public affairs officer at the national headquarters, said the financial woes are “pretty universal.”
“Every chapter is finding this a challenging environment,” she said.
The national operation, which relies on the chapters to raise their own funds, has notable challenges of its own. Faced with a deficit that peaked at more than $200 million, it laid off one-third of the 3,000 employees at its Washington headquarters last year and made an unusual appeal to Congress that resulted in a one-time, $100 million infusion for its disaster-relief program.
DeFrancis said the Red Cross is convinced its ability to cope with major disasters is undiminished, but it does not allocate money to help the chapters with their local operating budgets and instead is helping them find cost-cutting steps that leave emergency services intact. Some chapters have merged; others are working together on marketing and fundraising.
