RED CROSS SPENDS $75,000 AIDING FLOOD VICTIMS

The local American Red Cross chapter has spent $75,000 fighting the flood and helping flood victims.

At the height of the emergency, 109 victims turned to the Red Cross for help. The local chapter serves people from Ste. Genevieve through the Bootheel.

Flood victims receive cleanup kits and disbursement orders for emergency needs.

Red Cross chapter director Mary Burton said disaster work takes a toll on volunteers and staff members.

"No one really understands how much it takes out of you or how much energy you put into this," she said.

Flooding continues as the Mississippi River continues a slow descent. It fell half a foot from Wednesday to Thursday, but not enough to open Highway 74 to Dutchtown or Highway 177.

The Mississippi River was 42.7 feet at the Cape Girardeau gauge Thursday.

The $75,000 price tag includes all the flood efforts by the Red Cross, food, shelter and cleanup assistance. It is added to the money spent by local governments to fight the flood.

"Everybody is under the misconception that we are a government agency," Burton said. For example, a man stopped her in the Red Cross parking lot to say he didn't want his tax dollars spent to house flood victims in a hotel.

"We don't get a penny in government funds," Burton said. "It's all donated funds. We make our decisions based on the best use of those donated dollars."

Opening a shelter is very expensive. For a few victims, it is less expensive to house them in a hotel.

The local Red Cross has an annual budget of $160,000. The budget doesn't include $75,000 for fighting a flood.

In fact, Burton said the local chapter has been operating on a deficit basis for several year. "We were getting close to balancing the budget this year, and then the flooding hit."

She said the local chapter has seen a huge increase in requests for services since the 1993 flooding.

"I think there is a heightened awareness that the Red Cross is out here," she said. "We're happy to help, but those services cost money."

The local fund-raising effort depends almost solely on direct mail campaigns.

"We don't have time to plan big events," she said. "We're too busy responding to disasters."

The Area Wide United Way provides one-third of the local budget and it is the largest donor.

"When our costs exceed what our chapter is able to do, we ask for national Red Cross help," Burton said.

The national Red Cross in the last four years has responded to a record number of disasters.

The Red Cross is working on an average of 15 disasters every day somewhere across the country.

While flood victims file in and out of the Red Cross office, the other services of the agency go on.

"We've had a lot of emergency messages for the military in the past couple days," Burton said. A fire victim also requested help.

The flood assistance is added to the regular workload.

"We have so many good volunteers who step forward to shoulder some that burden," Burton said. "That's the only way we can do what we do here."

Volunteers do all sorts of jobs from preparing meals and talking with victims to securing donations and fund raising.

For example, one volunteer thought a big screen television would be nice for flood victims who were housed at a shelter during the flooding. The volunteer got a local rental company to donate the use of the television for the time the shelter was open.

"It's that kind of ingenuity and generosity that keeps us going," Burton said.