Red Cross Raises $239G Locally
Press Enterprise, October 26, 2001

by Brenda Hartman
(570) 387-1234 ext. 1323

Local residents have raised almost a quarter of a million dollars since the Sept. 11 tragedy, local American Red Cross officials say.

The staggering amount is far more than local residents have ever given for a relief effort.

“It’s more than we had from any other disaster,” said Berwick Executive Director Bonnie Riegel.

In the first week after terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Red Cross chapters in Berwick Bloomsburg and Danville took in a generous $84,000.

The tally six weeks later is now $238,869. And the checks continue to come in each day.

“This is something we’ve never seen before,” said Rita Inklovich, executive director of Bloomsburg’s Red Cross.

Berwick, which had received almost $10,000 by Sept. 18, saw donations climb to a new total of $67,114 as of Tuesday.

The story was the same for other chapters.

Donations to Bloomsburg, stood at $42,000 at last report. Now the chapter has taken in a total $117,845.

Danville, which had received $32,400 now puts its total at $53,910.

Riegel credited the astonishing leap in giving in Berwick to the effort by Berwick area high school students.

They bumped us up for almost $60,000,” said Reigel. “It’s amazing to see what they’ve accomplished.”

At last count, the Berwick high school students alone had collected $19, 447 from cash donations, ribbon sales, and a portion of the proceeds from a football game.

Berwick Industries employees kicked another $20,000 into the high school students’ project, bringing that effort close to $40,000.

Reigel said, those amounts are astonishing, considering that the Berwick chapter might take in an average of $5,000 a month. The chapter’s last membership campaign raised $8,000.

Following Hurricane Mitch in January 1999, Berwick collected $3,500 for disaster relief dramatically less than Sept. 11.

“In the heat of this, we were taking in anywhere from $500 to $1,000 a day,” Reigel said.

She said donations are slowing, but the dollars keep trickling, and fundraisers are continuing. For example, Karen Richards, owner of a Third Street candy store is selling candy bars wrapped with drawings by Berwick grade school students, Reigel said.

Reigel, who keeps an accounting for nine chapters in a cluster that covers Berwick to upper Northumberland, said the cluster total was over half a million dollars on Tuesday: $560,152.

Inklovich is also in awe by all the giving.

She said Bloomsburg received a $21,000 donation from on edonor who wants to remain anonymous. The chapter took in another $100,000 largely through fundraising efforts. Many of them involved children.

Youngsters who made beaded pins and sold them at the fair handed her a check for $1,700 Inklovich said. A bounce-back fundraiser brought in $16,000.

“I felt that was incredible for kids,” she said. “It was huge.”

Inklovich said collections by businesses also rought in thousands. Vance Apple Dumplings at the Bloomsburg Fair gave $2,000 from the proceeds of its sales. Press Enterprise collections and flag sales added another $2,600.

Inklovich said about 43,000 people live in the Bloomsburg Service area. That means close to $3 has been given for every person living there.

Here’s another comparison; The Bloomsburg chapter has taken in more than five times the $20,000 raised during its annual membership drive in March.

The numbers don’t reflect all the giving.

Some chain stores and banks are sending money collected here directly to the national Red Cross, Inklovich said. People have given to the United Way’s Sept. 11 Fund and other funds set up for fire fighters and rescue workers.

When a natural disaster occurs, local chapters typically send out a mail solicitation and receive most donations in the days immediately following.

But Inklovich said there’s been no end this-time.

“And we haven’t asked for anything.” She said. “That’s the biggest difference. We haven’t solicited any money.”

Inklovich said all the giving shows how deeply people were affected by the September disasters.

“It was not just an attack on those people,” she said. “It was an attack on the country. We all took it personally.”

All the money collected locally is going directly to American Red Cross National headquarters for the Liberty Disaster Fund, which has received about $452 million.

The Red Cross had estimated it would take $300 to $320 millions for ongoing relief efforts in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania. That includes $100 million for immediate relief, such as food and shelter, and another $111 million for victims’ families.

Historically, the costliest national disaster response by the Red Cross was to Hurricane Georfes, which exceeded $100 million.

Because of the large amounts of money donated, the national Red Cross has asked all local chapters to have their books audited for the months September through November, Reigel said. Chapters would normally have their yearly audits done in June.

“They want us to be thorough in thanking people ant they want our books checked,” Reigel said. “It’s a very, very good idea.”

More information on how the Red Cross is using donations is available on the Internet at www.redcross.org.