Haiti faults orphanage run by well-off US church

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Haiti faults orphanage run by well-off US church
By BEN FOX, Associated Press | December 17, 2013 | Updated: December 18, 2013 3:10pm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — At the Olde Good Things antique store on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a French crystal chandelier can go for tens of thousands of dollars. A marble mantel sells for more than $20,000 and hand-carved dinner tables are priced even higher.

The store's Christian missionary owners offer their well-heeled customers a heart-warming story: Part of the proceeds pay for the group's orphanage in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. What they don't say is that even though they claim in IRS filings to be spending around $2.5 million annually, the home for boys and girls was so dirty and overcrowded during recent inspections that the government said it shouldn't remain open.

The Associated Press made an unannounced visit to the orphanage's two homes, currently holding a total of 120 kids, in November and found conditions a world away from the opulent Manhattan apartments decorated with the store's antiques. Bunk beds with faded and worn mattresses were crowded into dirty rooms. Sour air wafted through the bathrooms and stairwells. Rooms were dark and spartan, lacking comforts or decoration.

While many other orphanages also failed the Caribbean country's new national standards, and conditions are far worse in some, the group's three-story building on the hilly outskirts of Port-au-Prince stands out because it's run by an organization with such an unusual, and successful fundraising operation. The failure to meet the standards would seem to contradict their financial position.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Haiti-faults-orphanage-run-by-well-off-US-church-5073752.php

Read more: Link to source

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Are there no prisons for these people? No work houses?

the "missionaries" not the orphans

[valerief]

2. But you don't understand. Gawd wants the shopowners to live well. Gawd doesn't want

that for the Haitian kids. It's so obvious.

[LeftyMom]

3. A lot of churches set up shop in Haiti to get "orphans" (who often had parents) to sell to Americans

Adoption fees are a lot more lucrative than providing quality care in country. Now that Haiti is cracking down on Haitian children being treated as an export commodity you can expect a lot of American churches to lose interest in orphan care.

[csziggy]

4. Wonder who's getting the money?

From the article linked in the OP:

In its Form 990 for 2011, the most recent version available of the document the Church of Bible Understanding must file with the Internal Revenue Service, the church reported spending about $2.5 million annually on its orphanage, according to an analysis by Chuck McClean, vice president of research at Guidestar, the leading source of information on nonprofit groups.

McClean reviewed three years of returns and said it was difficult to determine from the explanations on the forms how much of what the church provided the orphanage was cash and how much was in-kind support such as food.

Church members gave conflicting information. Senior church official Kevin Browne said in an interview that the organization spends about $1 million a year in Haiti. Fair, one of two church members working in Haiti, said: "Basically, a third of all the profits go to our orphanages."

They tell the IRS they're spending $2.5 million but the church says it's spending $1 million - who's getting that other $1.5 million?

If it is only $1 million a year, according to the article, there are 160 orphans in their facility - that's only $6250 per child per year. Not a lot to spend. That other $1.5 million would make a huge difference!