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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWorkers say charity gave little money to vets
http://www.theeagle.com/news/nation/article_46fb431f-3f1c-5cde-bef3-d2a356d1011a.htmlPosted: Sunday, December 16, 2012 7:01 pm | Updated: 9:14 pm, Sun Dec 16, 2012.
A veterans charity already under scrutiny for how it raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tennessee handed out only a fraction of the money in the form of gift cards and threatened to fire workers if they didn't meet fundraising quotas, former employees say. The Stuart, Fla.-based Veterans Support Organization has been criticized by other groups for how it uses donations raised outside retail stores and supermarkets. It had been fined by Tennessee for making false claims about the benefits it offered, and Connecticut lawmakers called for a federal investigation before the group's Tennessee branch closed last month.
However, former employees interviewed by The Associated Press shed new details on how the charity operated. For instance, it claimed to help veterans and non-veterans by providing them jobs, but disciplined people who didn't meet fundraising quotas. It also claimed to provide housing and help for poor or homeless veterans, though the former workers say that amounted to little more than a rented home in Tennessee where the workers were charged $400 a month for bunk beds and plastic dressers.
snip
VSO reported raising nearly $8.5 million nationwide during the last fiscal year, but leaders emptied its office in Madison and laid off about 20 workers the day before Thanksgiving. Charity officials declined to answer questions about the workers' claims, but provided a short statement. The Tennessee chapter was raising tens of thousands of dollars a month at its peak, former chapter manager Kurt Jones told the AP, who was among those laid off. However, he said, its only donations were about $400 worth of Walmart gift cards given every other month to Veterans Affairs facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky.
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Workers say charity gave little money to vets (Original Post)
SoCalDem
Dec 2012
OP
Skittles
(153,113 posts)1. here is the smarmy bastard
ReRe
(10,597 posts)2. Vultures Support Organization....
Making Barely A Difference,
One Sucker At A Time
Skittles
(153,113 posts)3. I gaurantee you he considers hiimsefl a Christian
and votes repuke
ReRe
(10,597 posts)4. Well, of course...
He's got that "look".
Boot to the head.
Baitball Blogger
(46,684 posts)5. Thank God somebody is on this!