Isle Red Cross
needs its own
charitable aidHawaii officials expect a shortfall
that could grow this year
It was only a bed.
But when Sharon Colbert and her family lost almost everything they owned -- furniture, valuables, paperwork -- in a windstorm that ripped off much of their roof earlier this month, the gift meant one less thing to worry about and one less thing they would have to replace.
"Beds are expensive," Colbert said. "Every little bit helps. I can't obviously go into whatever little savings I have."
The donation was one of hundreds the American Red Cross offered to Hawaii residents over the past 12 months in the wake of any number of small-scale disasters -- fires, big waves and flooding among them -- that destroyed homes and displaced families.
But the nonprofit's response to such events could be pinched by a drop in donations locally and nationally.
For the first time, the organization's Hawaii chapter is expecting a deficit in its upcoming budget. The projected shortfall -- about $150,000 -- could grow as the year progresses.
Nationally, the organization's financial outlook only darkens. The American Red Cross disaster relief fund has been emptied by a spate of disasters in 2003 -- including the California wildfires and the Northeast blackout -- and the organization has been forced to lay off a number of employees, seven of whom worked full time in the islands.
Red Cross of Hawaii Chief Executive Officer Coralie Chun Matayoshi blames a decline in donations locally over the past few years on the state's down economy and recent military deployments, which have sent a large group of the chapter's traditional donors away. She did not have numbers for donations over the past few years.
But she said giving levels have been disappointing, and the chapter is anticipating less in donations this fiscal year than originally expected.
"We promised to be there no matter what," Matayoshi said. "That's a really hard thing when something's happening every two to three days that we're responding to."
The Red Cross of Hawaii distributes thousands of dollars in vouchers or cash to Hawaii families yearly, allowing many to regroup after crisis.
The nonprofit could fund a family's short hotel stay or rent for a month. After a disaster the chapter helps residents get prescription medicines, clothes, toiletries and other necessities, including beds.
"I appreciate the help (from) the Red Cross," said Colbert, who is staying with a niece and planning a move to Mililani.
The Kailua resident said she has not yet recovered from the shock of losing her home of five years to a windstorm that ripped off three-quarters of her roof. The deluge of rain that followed poured through the home's ceiling, streaming down the walls "like waterfalls going down."
"The water was coming in like somebody had a faucet on," she said. "We were wading."
Colbert's son, his girlfriend and their two children also lived in the home.
"To that family," Matayoshi said, "that's the worst disaster that ever happened. There are disasters (like that) happening every day."
And they're expensive.
When high surf hit the Big Island, Maui and Oahu in late November, 100 homes suffered major damage or were destroyed, some 83 people were displaced and set up in Red Cross shelters and more than 29 families were given essentials to replace what they had lost.
The waves cost the Red Cross $33,000.
During the Labor Day weekend, the organization spent $5,000 preparing in the event Tropical Storm Jimena hit the islands. The Red Cross shipped emergency supplies to the neighbor islands just in case transportation was cut off after the storm, set up an emergency operation center with 20 phone lines and put 1,500 volunteers on standby.
Matayoshi said the drop in donations has meant cutting community outreach classes, including free courses on workplace safety and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. So far, disaster response has not been affected.
"I'm hoping that we're going to be able to overcome that deficit," Matayoshi said. "We don't want to be treading water thereafter. We want to be able to build an endowment."
Matayoshi is planning in March to kick off the second leg of a fund-raising drive that began last year.
"What we're doing is going out into the community and asking groups to raise awareness and funds," she said. "People think, 'My dollar isn't going to help.' But if 1 million people give a dollar, it really adds up. I really believe that the people of Hawaii will step forward."