Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Auroua Shooting Scandal?

From the New York Daily News: The families of victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting rampage say they have received almost no part of the $5 million in donations raised to help them in the aftermath of the massacre.
Victims' families held a joint press conference in Denver on Tuesday to voice their anger and demand "a robust voice" in the handling of money given in their loved ones' names to Giving First and the Colorado Organization for Victims Assistance (COVA).
"I'm not saying they don't care about the victims, but we haven't seen it yet," said Arizona resident Tom Teves, whose son Alex, 24, was one of the 12 people killed in the July 20th shooting.
Another 58 people were wounded.
The foundation has been collecting money from both private and corporate donors for victims caught in the Aurora theater. So far, more than $5 million has rolled in.
But instead of going the victims and their families, the money has been doled out to non-profits and government agencies, Teves said.
Community First did not immediate respond to the Daily News' request for comment. The foundation told KDVR Monday they had only just became aware of the complaints and was doing its best in a "difficult" situation.
But Teves said the charitable nightmare started soon after he buried his son.
"An hour later I was immersed in this," he said of his struggles to get information from the memorial fund.
Some of the victims' relatives said they even struggled to make it to the press conference or to the initial court appearances of alleged shooter James Holmes.
"I had to come (to Denver) without my four-year-old daughter....I needed to bring my daughter and they (the charity) told me no. There was no more funding for another ticket," said Reno resident Chantel Blunk, whose ex-husband Jon,26, was among those murdered.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/families-aurora-shooting-victims-5-million-donations-non-profits-article-1.1146381
We are seeing more and more that these kind of charities are becoming big business and that there are many more paws out there grabbing for the money.  
Personally, I know there are many worthy charities out there but there is only 1 charity I trust and that is the Salvation Army because they take care of their money and don't pay high salaries for their executives.  
Hopefully, the victims will get the money they deserve because the people who donate the money expect the money to go to the victims- not a government agency or non-profit.

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