The American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter has learned that its United Way funding will be significantly decreased beginning in July 2008. The Greater Cleveland Chapter has relied on funding from United Way to provide services to the Armed Forces and disaster relief to 1.7 million people in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake Counties. Beginning in July, the United Way will decrease its support by approximately $1 million -- a 50 percent reduction -- which slashes funding for disaster relief services and its corresponding volunteer resource base, and completely eliminates its contribution for services to the military and their families. It represents a 13% reduction in the Chapter’s budget.
“The Red Cross mission is to fulfill our Congressional Charter to respond to victims of disaster and provide services to our Military and their families, and it is our intent to continue to do so,” said Mary-Alice Frank, CEO, American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter. “In order to meet the deficit, we will reach out to our support base to help us bridge this gap while also ramping up the sales of our products and our fundraising initiatives. The bottom line is to continue to serve people in our three-county area who rely on us to be there when needed."
Families are burned out of their homes by fires literally every single day in the Greater Cleveland area, and the Red Cross Disaster Action Teams are the ones who help them transition from the tragedy back to normalcy. Families in Valley View, Parma and Lake County who were displaced by severe flooding in 2006 and 2007 were given temporary shelter, clothing and clean up kits by the Red Cross even before the waters began to recede. And in the last year alone, the Chapter made contact with 2,386 new military inductees to educate them about Red Cross services. All this is at risk.
The Greater Cleveland Chapter has historically been the recipient of overwhelming generosity from the Cleveland community in times of emergency. The Chapter will need to reach out once again to this same community -- already dealing with severe economic challenges -- to raise the dollars needed to address the deficit incurred by the severe funding cuts in order to continue to fulfill its Congressionally-mandated services.
“These cuts jeopardize our ability to provide essential services to this community. I respectfully disagree with this decision, particularly in light of the economic climate in Greater Cleveland,” said Hugh McKay, chairman of the Cleveland Red Cross board. “But we have kept the faith in fulfilling our mission for over 100 years and will not be stopped by this unfortunate decision by United Way.”
The Greater Cleveland Chapter helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies by providing shelter, food, clothing and mental health counseling to families affected by disasters in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake counties. All disaster relief is free and is made possible by generous donations from the American people. The Chapter also provides CPR, First Aid, Water Safety and preparedness training to thousands of individuals each year. The Greater Cleveland Chapter has been the respected humanitarian disaster response organization in our community for 103 years