With Haitian relief efforts in full-swing, you need to watch out for scammers. You may run across people posing as the Red Cross. However, the Red Cross does not collect money door-to-door.
"We would just be very concerned and ask people to be very cautious, to be aware of who's collecting funds,” said Nanci Conley with the American Red Cross Coastal South Carolina Chapter. “The Red Cross does not encourage anyone to go door to door and collect money on our behalf."
Many people or groups will fraudulently use the Red Cross logo. It's actually a felony to pose as a member of the American Red Cross for the purpose of collecting money. If you’re solicited either in person or via email or any other way, the Red Cross needs to know. You can call their office Monday through Friday from 8:00am-4:30pm to check the validity of a group or person.
The Red Cross is only accepting money due to the logistics of distributing items. "If you collect stuff, which we do not, then you've got a warehouse and you have to store it, you have to ship it which is very costly,” said Conley. “You have to use man hours, man power to sort it and organize and pack it. So, that's just not an effective use of our resources, they're so limited, we want to focus all of our resources on the clients in need."
While the Haitian relief efforts continue, The Coastal South Carolina chapter will also raise funds for local disasters. Their annual Heroes Campaign starts February 25th. Their goal is to raise 125-thousand dollars.
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