I was born in raised in Staten Island, an outer borough within New York City known for its world-famous — although now closed — garbage dump and beautiful beaches. When I say beautiful beaches, I mean beaches with hypodermic needles, rats and sewage strewn across the shores. Despite all of this, Staten Island will always be home. On Oct. 29, 2012, my hometown was torn apart. I watched as my family members lost their homes, their belongings and their pets. We saw feet of water flood basements, severe wind tear paneling off of roofs, and for the time being we were hopeless. We were able to prevail despite lackluster efforts from the Red Cross.

It is highly publicized that the Red Cross has not been entirely truthful with how its funding is spent. Call it the American way, but I do not believe that we should tolerate a group that raised $487 million, yet spent a quarter of that on internal expenses. Similarly, when any group pledges to take the money it raises and build 700 permanent residences, we should not settle for just six. Recently, when Hurricane Harvey struck Texas, I expected a firm stance from Red Cross executive Brad Kieserman about how things would be different this time. Instead, he floundered and stated on NPR, “It’s not something [he] would have any visibility on.”

So the question is: how do we go about donating to causes we believe in? Well, when Hurricane Sandy destroyed Staten Island, the grassroots effort to rebuild our home brought out people from many states and even other countries to come together and collect excess food, as well as repair walls for free or at a discounted cost. While it is impossible for us as NYU students to pass up on our classes here, getting the word out about these grassroots organizations is an amazing way to truly make a difference. My personal work with a group known as Guyon Rescue proved to me that I cannot let any group run a profit at the expense of a natural disaster.

In such a time, it is easy to understand how somebody would trust such an accessible outlet and believe it is worried about the common good of those in need of help. Yet, time and time again, we’ve been fooled. While the Red Cross has and will continue to deceive people and claim that “91 cents of every dollar goes to relief efforts,” NPR states that “the real number could be in the 70s, or lower.”

As students at a world-renowned university, we know not to dedicate our efforts 70 percent of the time, and we believe working with 100 percent of our efforts is the only way to be successful. Why are we going to allow those who we need most to not be held to the same standards? As Hurricane Irma looms in the near future, and the imminent threat seems to be catastrophic, we must strive to find a different way.  

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Email Kieran Brown at [email protected].