As a number of organizations continue to work to help get Haiti back on its feet after a devastating earthquake, it’s time to take a look at what your donated money has been doing.
If you gave to the Red Cross either locally or otherwise, you helped raise 54-million-dollars for the organization at last check.
What you didn’t know is that most of that money is still in a trust account in Canada.
Red Cross spokesperson for the Owen Sound/Bruce Grey branch Stephanie Murray says just over 15-million-dollars has been sent to Haiti or spent on Haiti relief.
Murray says the money has to be sent in waves because of the logistics of Haiti’s recovery.
She says it’s a slow process but all the money donated for Haiti relief is earmarked as such.
Murray says the recovery is not a one or two year project but will probably take over a decade.
Murray says past appeals indicate the administration costs for the Red Cross will average around seven-per-cent.
She says that money covers the cost of toll free phone lines, a secure internet site, labour costs, tax receipt preparation and of sending Red Cross representatives to Haiti to help in the cause.