22 Quotes by Joe Becker

We are proud of the extraordinary efforts of the more than 225,000 Red Crossers who put their day-to-day lives on hold to selflessly help their neighbors in need. Some of them lost everything in these storms, yet they put the needs of their community before their own.

We sheltered about 3.5 million people. The largest night was about 150,000.

Frankly, our systems to do this last fall were not big enough, were not robust enough.

Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on southeast Florida and the Gulf coast states. The Red Cross is mobilizing on all fronts to bring relief to storm victims.

Hurricane Katrina is wreaking havoc for southeast Florida and the Gulf coast states. The Red Cross will meet the challenge by doing what we do best - coming together to respond with tireless compassion to take care of our neighbors.

We've learned a lot in the last months. We have taken a large number of steps to be better this hurricane season. We will be more prepared for the worst-case scenario.

We have a long way to go in our fundraising to meet the needs of people from Katrina, let alone what we need to do for the people of Rita.

Time is short between now and the next hurricane season. We are focused on how we can improve, and ask that every community review its plans. The time to get together is now.

We knew we ran the risk of putting assistance in the hands of potentially unscrupulous individuals not affected by the hurricanes. We concluded that it was a reasonable business risk and mitigated the risks as possible.