The Red Cross has hit out at ‘dangerous rumors’ after a woman’s video claiming the charity are throwing away Hurricane Harvey donations, went viral.
Wendy Wilkerson Underwood posted footage of multiple bags of supplies in her garage which she claimed were going to be flung in the trash. She says she’s taken 600 blankets – which are not shown – and 500lbs of food and pet food, which she planned to donate to other charities.
Red Cross were ‘instructed to throw it all away because they can get more, according to the director down here in Houston, for Florida,’ she said.
The footage, which was posted on Facebook on Sunday, quickly went viral and has been shared more than 435,000 times.
But now the American Red Cross has furiously hit back at the claims.
Wendy Wilkerson Underwood (pictured) claims the Red Cross are throwing away Hurricane Harvey donations in Houston
A spokesperson told Snopes they never throw out items like these, and anything they were unable to dispense, would be donated to other charities and partners.
‘We work with a large number of partners, who provide bulk donations of goods to the Red Cross. There has been no directive given at any of our operations to discard or dispose of any new donated items such as canned food, water, diapers, blankets or dog food,’ they said.
‘Numerous inquiries to Ms. Underwood, who originally posted this video, have gone unanswered. These inquiries have come from both the local Red Cross staff on the ground in Texas, the Disaster Response Operation in Texas, and from Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, DC.’
Underwood posted footage of multiple bags of supplies (pictured) in her garage which she claimed were going to be flung in the trash
She says she’s taken 600 blankets – which are not shown – and 500lbs of food and pet food, which she planned to donate to other charities
Underwood was also asked to open up the plastic bags she claimed were filled with hundreds of Red Cross blankets – which she has not done.
She has also ignored requests from numerous media outlets to clarify her claims.
The Red Cross went onto note that Underwood had not filmed the video at a center, but did so in her garage almost 200 miles away from the Houston site.
The charity also released a lengthy statement highlighting the ‘dangers of rumors and misinformation.’
‘While these volunteers work tirelessly to deliver much-needed aid to areas decimated by unprecedented disaster events, the American Red Cross is faced with an onslaught of baseless claims, rumors or outright lies that do nothing more than undermine our critical relief efforts,’ the statement read.
She says the Red Cross (pictured in Houston) were ‘instructed to throw it all away because they can get more, according to the director down here in Houston, for Florida’
The American Red Cross has furiously hit back at the claims (volunteers in Houston on September 2, 2017)
‘These accusations (theft, charging for services, denying assistance) not only derail the efforts of so many workers providing aid, they divert resources away from our core mission: to deliver relief. The countless hours spent addressing malicious falsehoods ultimately risk hurting those we’re trying to serve.’
They urge anyone who questions the credibility of Red Cross to volunteer and see their work in person.
Red Cross has come under scrutiny in the past mismanagement of donations and funds, while a previous CBS report highlighted that many charitable contributions – such as home cooked food which does not have a sell by date, cannot be used as a part of disaster relief efforts.
Still, not everyone is a fan of the Red Cross. Houston City Councilman Dave Martin insists that people shouldn’t ‘waste your time (or) your money’ to the Red Cross as he claimed the local government has been doing most of the disaster relief work.