Posted on 02/04/2013 5:56:06 AM PST by IbJensen
Here's a story that will leave you scratching your head. A Christian church and affiliated school in Florida held a fundraising drive to help the Wounded Warrior Project. Children in the school were excited about the task, but later were crushed when the funds were turned down, because the organization is "religious in nature."
As reported by Todd Starnes at Fox Radio, the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church and Academy, Wallace Cooley, said that "they had already paid a $100 registration fee to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and were about to launch the campaign when they received an email from the organization."
The church had planned on taking up a special offering on the last Sunday in February and students were collecting money from family and friends.
“We must decline the opportunity to be the beneficiary of your event due to our fundraising event criteria, which doesn’t allow community events to be religious in nature,” read an email from the WWP community events team. “Please note your registration fee will be refunded within the next 7-10 business days.”
WWP said as a nonpartisan organization they cannot accept event fundraising from companies “in which the product or message is religious in nature.”
Pastor Cooley said they were so shocked that the school secretary called Wounded Warrior to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake. He said a WWP representative assured her that “religious” was indeed on their banned list.
WPTV News Channel 5 reports that the school and parents are hoping "Wounded Warrior Project has a change of heart."
Katherine Johnson, the school's principal commented on the incident and said, " those men who are trying to fight for our freedom, now it feels like our freedoms are being taken away and we want them to realize the seriousness of what they are doing."
Barbie, the mother of Madision said, they sit there in school and say the pledge of allegiance and they sing God bless America and we teach them about freedom but, then what kind of freedom is it if we can't turn around and give to those who take their life and get injured."
According to the news story, Pastor Cooley "told NewsChannel Five that a representative from WWP called him.The representative apologized and said he would be meeting with other administrators from the organization to talk about this incident."
How does being "nonpartisan" have ANYTHING to do with accepting funds from a church group? Most nonprofits that get in trouble with the IRS do so because of what they DO with the funds... not where they come from. The Wounded Warrior Project does great work for out troops. But the organization and the rules governing nonprofit activities need a little common sense.
I have sent this email to Wounded Warriors Project:
I am tired of your anti-God and anti-American views.
Too much of your income goes for “administration” and not enough to the mission of helping wounded soldiers. However, more recently, it has come to my attention that you do not want to accept monies from “religious sources.” I consider myself a “religious” person as a conservative evangelical Christian. You obviously do not want mine.
You have blatantly told a group of young students in a Christian school associated with a Florida church that you will refuse the money for which the children were holding a fund-raiser. This is a travesty against freedom. Children who care about our country are now told by your organization that you do not want their support. God has been again forced out of society.
If this is true, then it is a despicable position for this organization to take. Has it been taken over by doctrinaire leftists?
If this stands I will rewrite my will and eliminate @@P as one of the beneficiaries.
OOOPS that should be WWP
We were considering signing up for their monthly “auto donate” plan. We’re holding off now - this doesn’t make sense at all....in the meantime we’re calling St Judes Childrens Hospital, they’ll take our money with grace.
On Twitter last night, WWP said the event did not meet WWP’s event guidelines and it was a “mistaken communication” on their part. Funny, because here, https://m.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans/posts/10151256727408415, they say the same thing about the gun issue, that it was “confusing communication” on their part.
They do spend a lot of their donations on admin and advertising. I’m not a big fan of them personally for a few reasons.
I am withholding future support for these idiots until they resolve this issue. Truly unbelievable! Stevie666
So be it.
I’m hearing a lot of “This info has not been verified”.
Last year at Christmas, my husband and I decided to send money to charity instead of buying gifts for each other. He decided to send money to WWP and I chose Fisher House. I read that as charities go WWP spends a great deal of money on administration as opposed to Fisher House where all monies go straight to the facilities. Since sending our donations, we get no fewer than one mailing a week from WWP looking for more and not one mailing from Fisher.
Hmm, checking over the report on Charity Navigator:
55% of expenses related to programs, 36.8% related to fundraising, 8% for administration... Top executive compensation $319k. Ahh, yes, many six figure salaries for alphabet soup positions, always a bad sign. Latest tax year online for examination of form 990? 2010. Really bad sign.
Comparing this to Operation Homefront: 94.3% of expenses related to programs, 2.3% to administration, 3.3% to fundraising. Top executive $174k. A few six figure salaries for top alphabet soup. Last tax year online? 2011.
Only the worship of a corrupt and abusive government monster is acceptable. One more organization to shake the dust from your feet upon.
Just like the Red Cross...
Their president makes around $450K a year...
Nice gig...
Gary Sinise Foundation. http://www.garysinisefoundation.org/
I earmarked mine to build houses for quadriplegic veterans.
Another is Marcus Luttrel’s Lone Survivor Foundation.
http://www.lonesurvivorfoundation.org/
Send it here - they’ll take it:
Yep, sent a good chunk of change to SOWF as a substitute for Christmas gifts this year. Also asked folks to give to them as a “present” to me.
“First anti-gun”
I stopped giving to them last year when they indicated that they were anti-gun by refusing to go on the Tom Gresham Gun Talk show because his show involved firearms.
This just seals the deal.
Strange. WWP took the donations from our church. Several ladies even went there on Thanksgiving and Christmas to make home cooked meals for the wounded.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.