Rash of Crises Depletes Red Cross Funds : Charities: Fires such as Sunday’s blaze at a homeless shelter have left the county chapter with a $125,000 shortfall. Programs other than emergency relief will be cut unless donations increase.

As Ventura County Red Cross workers tended to the latest victims of disaster Monday, an official with the organization warned that an unprecedented number of crises in the past year have left emergency relief funds precariously depleted.

“The needs continue to increase while our funding decreases, and that makes it a particularly critical year for the Red Cross,” said Brian Bolton as he toured the charred remains of the Ventura County Rescue Mission for homeless men that was destroyed in a fire early Sunday.

Emergency assistance to 75 people displaced by fires for the year ending June 30 cost the Ventura County chapter $120,000, nearly three times the amount budgeted, said Bolton, executive director of the county chapter. By contrast, the American Red Cross spent just $62,000 on fire-related relief the previous year, Bolton said.

The rash of fires has left the county chapter with a shortfall of $125,000 for the upcoming year, Bolton said. Although the Red Cross will continue to provide disaster services, other programs that it sponsors, such as an AIDS education campaign, will have to be curtailed or eliminated unless donations pick up, he said.

The county chapter already has eliminated three of its 11 full-time staff positions to save money, Bolton said. About 18% of the chapter’s $865,000 annual budget is used for administration, he said.

In addition, the national American Red Cross is $30 million in the red and cannot guarantee emergency assistance in the coming year, Bolton said. Ventura County residents received $130,000 in aid from the national organization after February’s floods, Bolton said.

Besides highly publicized disasters such as Hurricane Hugo and the Loma Prieta earthquake, a host of other natural disasters nationwide in the past two years have drained funds, he said.

“People don’t hear about all the tornadoes and floods that are going on,” he said.

The ailing economy has only made the problem worse. Red Cross funding from the United Way is down $72,800 from last year, largely because recession-pinched Americans are donating less, Bolton said. The Red Cross received $249,700 this year.

Bolton estimated that the Ventura County chapter will spend about $700 on a shelter that has been set up to house the homeless men in the aftermath of Sunday’s fire. The emergency camp in the gymnasium at Oxnard High School will remain open only until Wednesday, when Rescue Mission organizers plan to move the men into an Oxnard church for a night.

The Red Cross spends an average of $5,000 to assist victims of each single-family home fire, Bolton said. Last year, 23 people needed assistance after a fire gutted a condominium in Thousand Oaks; another fire at a housing unit in Simi Valley left 29 people needing relief, he said.

Besides providing immediate food, clothing and shelter, the Red Cross gives a month’s rent and a security deposit to families who need financial help getting into new quarters, Bolton said. The organization also will replace work-related tools and provide medical aid if necessary, he said.

FYI

The Ventura County Rescue Mission’s homeless shelter and meals program are funded through donations from churches and individuals. The mission is accepting contributions of building supplies and money toward the reconstruction of its dormitory. Donations can be taken or mailed to the mission’s headquarters at 234 E. 6th St., Oxnard, CA 93030. Individuals can also call 487-7667 or 487-8252.