Red Cross in the news...

If you read the paper this morning, you may have noticed an article about American Red Cross Blood Services getting fined for a procedural issue.

I thought it might be helpful to let you know that Blood Services is a totally separate entity from our fundraising partner, the Greater Rochester Red Cross.

I didn’t realize this at first—but they are actually distinctly different organizations.

So, if you give to the annual United Way/Red Cross Campaign, your donation goes directly to the Greater Rochester Red Cross—which takes care of local disaster services and a lot of other great programs. Even if you designate to the Red Cross, it’s the same deal—it goes right to our local chapter.

I called our friends at the Red Cross this morning. Regardless of the different organizations, they assured us any donations to the Red Cross will never, ever go to pay the Blood Services fines. What the FDA was concerned about was procedural in nature, and the blood collected was not a concern.

The Greater Rochester Red Cross has been a fundraising partner of United Way for decades. I believe it was the 1960’s when—instead of competing with each other—we decided to team up to raise money once a year (in the spring.)

They’re a great group of people, and they do incredible work helping people in times of crisis. So – don’t panic – our local chapter has not done anything to be nervous about. If you want to check out their web site, you can visit it at www.rochesterredcross.org.

Write in with questions, or post comments if you would like to share your thoughts with us… thanks.