Inside the Red Cross

It took a public uproar to make the Red Cross hand over all the money it collected for 9/11 to those victims. But Mike Wallace finds out that wasn’t the first time the respected charity has come under fire for how it utilizes donations raised after a major disaster.

Mike Wallace reports on the controversy surrounding the Red Cross and its handling of donations. Sunday, June 17, at 7 p.m. ET/PT

60 Minutes first reported this story three months ago, when victims criticized the San Diego Red Cross chapter for the way it handled funds raised in the aftermath of a fire in Alpine Canyon last year. Mike Wallace interviewed Alpine fire victims who charged that the chapter initially gave them little or nothing from the almost $400,000 it raised in their names.

He also talked to a local government official, Diane Jacobs, who charged that an investigation by the Red Cross national headquarters into the chapter’s handling of funds was extremely critical. However, Jacobs said the report was interpreted positively and the most damning criticism was removed when the San Diego chapter released the results.

The chapter’s chief executive officer, Dodie Rotherham, refused an interview request but Wallace spoke to a former chapter board member, Gen. Jack Godfrey. Godfrey admitted mistakes were made but that they were being remedied. Since 60 Minutes broadcast the story, Red Cross national headquarters in Washington took the unprecedented action of firing Rotherham and the entire San Diego Red Cross chapter's board of directors.