Donations lag for Ebola epidemic

When a catastrophic earthquake devastated the island and people of Haiti in 2010, killing more than 100,000 people, the American Red Cross raised $486 million to help restore the ravaged nation.

When Typhoon Haiyan pounded the Philippines last year, killing at least 6,300 people in that country alone, $87 million in donations poured into the American Red Cross.

Yet in response to the deadliest Ebola outbreak the world has seen - infecting more than 8,300 and killing more than 4,000 in West Africa since it began in March - the American Red Cross has received $2.9 million in donations.

Of that total, $2.8 million came from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation - Allen co-founded Microsoft in 1975. That means the American arm of the Red Cross has raised slightly more than $100,000 in individual donations for Ebola, said Jana Sweeny, director of international communications for the American Red Cross.

The Iowa branch of the Red Cross has raised several hundred dollars to help respond to and combat the deadly virus crippling Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

'In Iowa, we really have not received much,” said Kara Kelly, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross Serving Greater Iowa.

Several Iowa-based groups of African immigrants - one in Cedar Rapids and one in Central Iowa - have contacted the Red Cross about fundraising initiatives, Kelly said.

'But they have struggled for publicity,” she said. 'It's been a challenge.”

Ebola-specific donations have lagged locally and nationally, even as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week that the virus could become a global calamity on the scale of HIV without concerted, bold action.

Last month, the United Nations announced it would need nearly $1 billion to effectively fight the illness. But other aid groups also have seen fewer donations than for previous international crises, including the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and AmeriCares, according to national media reports.

CNN reported this week that those organizations and the American Red Cross have raised a combined total of $19.5 million for Ebola.

'It seems to be a challenge all the way around,” Kelly said. 'For some reason this one isn't hitting a cord.”

But she doesn't know why. It could be that this crisis has been slower to develop, rather than just a single tragic event. And, she said, tragedies that hit closer to home - like the tornado in Moore, Okla. - seem to incite a greater response.

Donors might also associate the Red Cross with natural disasters, prompting them to look elsewhere to make their gifts.

'It's hard to say why people are choosing not to give,” she said.

One of the local groups of African immigrants working with the Red Cross has held several fundraisers under the name 'Africans in Iowa Fight Ebola.” A Cedar Rapids-based group 'Wake up for your rights” also has been raising money.

They've set up a 'crowdrise” website through the American Red Cross in hopes of raising $10,000 in online donations, and they've identified specific countries for donations in hopes of turning it into a sort of contest. So far, the initiative has raised just $165, most of which has come from a Red Cross-related club.

Des Moines resident Samuel Wilson, 45, moved to Iowa from Liberia five years ago and has been involved in the 'Africans in Iowa Fight Ebola” effort. But he said the group is frustrated and planning to disband after only raising about $1,600.

'It's just nothing,” Wilson said Friday. 'It would be better sitting at home and doing nothing than what we've done.”

The group began fundraising in early August, and Wilson said he's been surprised and disappointed at how difficult it has been to inspire giving for the cause. He said the Red Cross even found a donor willing to match donations dollar for dollar.

'It's really discouraging,” he said.

With much of his wife's family still living in Liberia, along with his brother, Wilson said he fears daily for their lives. Perhaps, he said, Americans cannot conceive of the struggles they are facing.

'But if you know where we come from, you have good reason to be afraid,” he said. 'Because there is no structure … everything is broken down.”

Wilson said his group can't keep trying to raise money, but he hopes the international warnings will increase the local response.

'I know the people of Iowa. They give,” Wilson said. 'I know they do. But they have t have a reason for giving.”

To give, visit http://www.redcross.org/ia/des-moines.