iTunes Store Facilitating Red Cross Donations for Haitian Earthquake Relief

[blybug]

The Red Cross is a scam. I refuse to give money to them. Most of the money they take in is consumed by overhead. (they get away with this by reclassifying money so that they can pretend to be a charity.) They are really not a "boots on the ground helping people" outfit.

I personally saw plenty of Red Cross boots on the ground in Galveston, TX in Sept 2008 following Hurricane Ike. While the country goes on talking about Katrina, barely an eye was batted when my hometown was inundated with up to 12 feet of storm surge in some areas and over 75% of the buildings and homes were severely or irreparably damaged by the flood. Galveston was quickly forgotten once Jim Cantore left town and the national short attention span turned to the financial crisis and the presidential election.

Red Cross was here for weeks passing out hot meals and bottled water door to door while we squeegeed out our homes, emptied our rotten fridges, and tore out carpet and sheetrock with no electricity or running water. I'll be forever grateful and now regularly donate to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army because of their assistance during my city's "disaster"...which now looks like a wee mud puddle compared to the human tragedy unfolding in Haiti.

Anyone condemning others for doing what they can to help should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[andiwm2003]

Why go through iTunes? Just go to RedCross directly.

Took me 11 sec to donate. Going through red cross means getting credit card and all that. also means that American Express gets probably a 5-7% fee of my donation while i trust Apple to forward 100% of my money.

Good thing because it looks really bad down there.

 

[am282]

You wanna trow me some historical facts?
(its gonna get way off topic )

There is not one piece of historical evidence to backup a so called jesus, god or whatever.
Also with historical facts I don't mean someting written on a piece of paper or what the church, internet, or television is telling us.

What medium would you like used to deliver evidence? Seriously, no paper? Proove to me that the Earth is round. No paper and no photographs...definitely do not use the Internet or TV to support the claim. Oh, and none of this word of mouth from "Astronauts". This process would require you to rediscover every discovery ever made that you were not an original party to in order to believe it.

 

[kirky29]

I was going to donate yesterday on the Red Cross website, but I didn't have my card details near me so I "couldn't be bothered" - whereas today, this being on iTunes I donated.

 

[Surely]

The Red Cross is a scam. I refuse to give money to them. Most of the money they take in is consumed by overhead.

That is sooooooo how I feel about religious feed-the-starving-children charities. I'm talking about CCF directly.

I see a LARGE amount of pricey commercials on cable channels and truly want to know the (accounting) books to know HOW MUCH is consumed by overhead, including a percentage of TV ad time. I know they have to advertise via a large audience like TV, but I'm seeing WAY too many ads.

Link to Charity Navigator Rating of the American Red Cross.

90.1% of the money collected goes towards Program Expenses. Not perfect, but pretty good for such a large organization.

I've seen worse (and you can find worse on that site I linked to).

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

I voted negative too...

I'll try and explain why.

I am all for helping people when disaster strikes them - yes!

But quite frankly I am sick of hypocrites who in one hand spend billions for killing people in one part of the world and then pretend to be all nice and lovely by kindly saying - please donate!

Also, for the last few days I can't do anything - from watching tv, to browsing net, to reading newspapers to even now opening iTunes store without seeing yet another "please donate"...

That is all fine if I would also see as many "please donates" for victims of Iraq and Afghanistan occupation... But apparently close to 1 million civilians dead in that two countries isn't that bad or perhaps we still don't need to donate anything cos job of killing and destruction isn't over yet?

I don't know...

By the way, IMF & World Bank should donate everything Haiti needs now - they were and still are ripping of the country for YEARS so if anyone should be showing some compassion and mercy is exactly IMF & WB...

etc... etc... etc...

In short - I am more than happy that my GOVERNMENT together with other GOVERNMENTS via UN or on its own are helping Haiti. I would be even happier if we fully focus on helping others all the time everywhere instead of helping some sometimes while killing others all the time...

But that's day-time dreaming...

Until hypocrisy and general ******** reigns please don't ask me to donate anything...

 

[HaXoR7Om]

This story has negatives. Really? Wow.

I know, It makes me really angry I mean who could give this story negatives they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

 

[pmz]

This story has negatives. Really? Wow.

I guess you aren't aware that every year the red cross is caught stealing disaster relief money? Man, people in the tech world don't know a damn thing outside of their little bubble.

If you want to contribute, there are literally hundreds of smaller organizations that are accepting donations for specific contributions that will actually, immediately have affect in Haiti.

The last place to donate to would be the Red Cross

 

[baruch]

Better than the red cross...

After witnessing the red cross in action in New Orleans after Katrina, I would suggest that there are organizations who have actual integrity and who do a better job at helping people. Craig's List put together a good set of links to some of these organizations:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/haiti_earthquake_resources

Personally I will never again give the red cross a dime.

 

[Porco]

Also, for the last few days I can't do anything - from watching tv, to browsing net, to reading newspapers to even now opening iTunes store without seeing yet another "please donate"...

I really hope this is bad-taste satire...

 

[jrichrd]

To all those who keep asking ...

"why does this story have negatives"

Maybe if you take a look at this article ...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10434884-56.html?tag=mncol;txt

Google Pledged $1m
Microsoft immediate $1.25m and more later
etc
etc

... In the meantime, Apple stick up a lame web page and offer to forward your donation. It repulses me that one of the only companies doing well in this economy can be so selfish; pure pure greed!

 

[Winni]

Very nice of Apple to do this.

Yes. And with all the billions Apple Inc has on their bank in liquid cash, it would be nice to know how much the corporation itself donates to help the victims.

 

[websyndicate]

Will Apple be on board to donate its 30% portion?

The screen grab in the original post says "100% of your donation will go to the American Red Cross."

 

[yamaha106]

I gave it a negative.

Money donated through The Red Cross doesn't go directly to disaster relief efforts. Most money donated there goes to helping them get out of their $200million+ debt. Donate through Mercy Corps or Oxfam or some other organization. Not the Red Cross. They're scammers.

you sir are correct. i live in America and so do many of you. as you are most likely aware that America is in 12 trillion dollars of debt. I just feel it is not logical to be donating money that we financially don't have. If you have looked America is the one donating hundreds of millions of dollars. on the other hand, China donated a measly 1 million dollars. America in total have given Haiti 3 billions dollars that could have been used of our own country. Don't take this as a racial statement because i am not racist. it was a terrible event that occurred and it's time for other countries to stand up and take the responsibility with caution. Haiti has been corrupt and will always be corrupt.

 

[Ljohnson72]

I guess you aren't aware that every year the red cross is caught stealing disaster relief money? Man, people in the tech world don't know a damn thing outside of their little bubble.

If you want to contribute, there are literally hundreds of smaller organizations that are accepting donations for specific contributions that will actually, immediately have affect in Haiti.

The last place to donate to would be the Red Cross

You're right, I'm totally oblivious to everything in the world.

 

[tabasco70]

Wow. That's great to see that Apple is providing ways for people to donate money really easily.

 

[Jesus on OSX]

Negatives? really?

I can understand some idiots voting "negative" on a story about Steve Jobs recovering from an illness or Apple releasing a new product, but come the **** on. This isn't some Mac vs PC thing.

These people need help.

And despite what some may think about Red Cross, they aren't spending your money on yacht parties. Even if your donation goes into a giant pot, it's still helping the people you intend to help with your dollars.

In sum, whoever is clicking negative on the story is a giant ********.

 

[*LTD*]

Negatives? really?

I can understand some idiots voting "negative" on a story about Steve Jobs recovering from an illness or Apple releasing a new product, but come the **** on. This isn't some Mac vs PC thing.

These people need help.

And despite what some may think about Red Cross, they aren't spending your money on yacht parties. Even if your donation goes into a giant pot, it's still helping the people you intend to help with your dollars.

In sum, whoever is clicking negative on the story is a giant ********.

Agreed, it is a little odd.

 

[a cat *miaow*]

you sir are correct. i live in America and so do many of you. as you are most likely aware that America is in 12 trillion dollars of debt. I just feel it is not logical to be donating money that we financially don't have. If you have looked America is the one donating hundreds of millions of dollars. on the other hand, China donated a measly 1 million dollars. America in total have given Haiti 3 billions dollars that could have been used of our own country. Don't take this as a racial statement because i am not racist. it was a terrible event that occurred and it's time for other countries to stand up and take the responsibility with caution. Haiti has been corrupt and will always be corrupt.

Americans donated that much money because they can. You may have extreme national debt but millions of Americans can afford to give to a good cause when others are in need. Can you honestly say you don't have $10 dollars to give because of the national debt? Wow, your humanitarianism is really shinning through! Also, this "measly $1m" which China donated? That's just insulting. If you don't have the first clue about the status of other countries then don't comment on them.

And for the people who say they can donate directly to the Red Cross... What??? So it's better to have one route to donate than two? It's placing a route to donate right on front of millions of people –*brilliant way to go.

 

[D4F]

So how much did Apple donate?

 

[macinfojunkie]

Really? 50,000 people have been killed in an earthquake in L.A.? I must have missed that on the news.

Also, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the U.S. is the richest. Charity is about helping those less fortunate when they have need, not the other way around. The U.S. has the resources and administrative structures to deal (as well as possible) with natural disasters, Haiti does not.

Really, really selfish. How do you look in the mirror?

He can't. He's obviously blind.

 

[macinfojunkie]

you sir are correct. i live in America and so do many of you. as you are most likely aware that America is in 12 trillion dollars of debt. I just feel it is not logical to be donating money that we financially don't have.

And why not, at least it will go to a good cause rather than line some executive's pocket. USA's been spending money it does not have for years. Question is whether it will ever pay it back!

 

[tsa1]

Yeah lets help haiti now, because they did not need our help last week...

 

[ph0rk]

Re: the Red Cross's expenses:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277


Yes, they have a deficit, but no a significant portion of their collections do not get consumed by administrative costs. Their program expenses (i.e. helping people) costs are over three billion. Some really bad charities (in terms of administrative costs) are here: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=20

This information is freely available - look it up before spouting uncited hearsay.

 

[satcomer]

Well for what's it worth I donated to the iTunes Red Cross link and the Salvation Army relief link. i hope this can go into a general pot to help those people.

I swear som of you posters are really heartless and tend to really over think some situations.

By the way is someone fixing the ports so those big container ships can deliver the huge amount of aid that country needs?