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Getting Real : Speak your peace
TFI's so called charity work. | from Lance - Saturday, September 10, 2005
accessed 1259 times
As many of us know, the family tries their best to solicit money from people by claiming to be a charity work. But from all my years in the family I have never seen a huge outpouring of money, personnel and expertise organized by TFI and then delivered to those in need; with the exception of a few individuals who PERSONALLY help organize small relief efforts with outside resources. But I find that this is the very rare exception and I cannot think of one time that TFI has coordinated large amounts of supplies and monies.
I want to be objective here, but I know that I had seen quite a number of TFI’s people in my time in Bosnia simply try to scam off of refugees in order to post pictures and sordid testimonies in their local publications. Their so-called charity work was minimal at best and often times down right insulting. A family testimony would rant and rave about donating shoes and clothing to a refugee center of 5,000 kosovars, with wonderful photos of the dirty, destitute individuals smiling from ear to ear as TFI members handed them bags of supplies. But when the light bulbs stopped flashing, what was supposedly a mission to deliver supplies to 5,000 refugees turned out to be nothing more then what your average citizen would have donated to their local food bank. In my mind this constitutes a fraud and is a downright slap in the face to the genuine charities that run their relief efforts with extreme coordination and with results that go far beyond the photo op.
If the families mission is to sing to strangers or to volunteer their time ministering to people or doing physical labor, then that simply makes them concerned citizens, but not a charity. Where is TFI’s organized relief efforts? Are their leaders coordinating monies and aid?
Singing songs to strangers does not make you a charity. Proselytizing your religion and giving some one a hug does not make you a charity. Standing in front of a red cross truck for a photo opportunity does not make you a charity. Volunteering your personal time does not make you a charity. Writing testimonials does not make you a charity.
In my opinion I would classify TFI’s contribution as false egalitarianism. Until the organization itself makes significant contributions to relief efforts in an organized and documented fashion, I will label their efforts as crime and an insult to those who really do dedicate their lives to relief work; who do so without boasting about their labors, or expecting any sort of reward beyond the satisfaction of actually making the world a little better.
The department of Justice recently issued a press release classifying what to look for when identifying hurricane relief fraud. Here is an excerpt:
"The Task Force will work aggressively with a focus on specific areas of fraud, with the ability to alter its focus if necessary to adapt to whatever fraudulent schemes are created by those who are looking for illegal gain. Examples of those types of fraud include:
Fraudulent Charities: Cases in which individuals falsely hold themselves out as agents of a legitimate charity, or create a "charity" that is in fact a sham."
Despite some family members best intentions; their efforts are in fact a sham.
Here are some web sites to report such activities:
The Fraud Section of the Criminal Division maintains additional information about Internet-related scams at www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov <http://www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov.> .
The Federal Trade Commission provides additional information at its website, www.ftc.gov <http://www.ftc.gov,> <http://www.ftc.gov,> , and a toll-free FTC hotline, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357, TTY/TDD: 202-326-2502), also allows consumers to report suspected fraud schemes, including Katrina-related fraud.
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from GetReal
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 23:59
 (Agree/Disagree?)
I have to disagree with you on that point.From my time working with charity not just TF I think they are all a rip off. most of them are just like every one TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING. How else do you get 500 billion spent on Africa alone and no difference still . I say kill them all we wouldn't tell the difference
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|  From Lance
Tuesday, October 25, 2005, 13:16
(Agree/Disagree?)
Do you mean "if we killed them all no one would know the difference"? Sounds a little like you're promoting genocide, or at least you let it slip in that one sentence that you still believe what TFI taught us: That Africa is a "black hole".
I must confess that I had a cynical outlook on Africa too for some time. But lately if been horrified at the discovery of these abysmal attitudes and I find them yet another of the almost unconscious things TFI instilled in me that I'm now trying to get rid of.
Africa is a wonderful continent with a beautiful history and people. I only wish that the powerful nations of the world would change their attitudes about the struggles that take place there.
In regards to your cynicism, I believe that it's true. When faced with such hopelessness that certain people have in Africa it can seem like charities don't do a lot of good. But if anything they are an example of how governments should act and behave in regards to those impoverished nations.
I'm a big fan of replacing the "me generation" with a "humanist generation".(reply to this comment) |
| | from
Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 12:47
(Agree/Disagree?)
I just read this on the Famliy's katerina relief web site and I just want to know how they think this is helping:
"She kept saying, “I just want to go home….” I told her, “I’m from New Orleans too, and we all want to go home, but Jesus has a better home for us, and really this world is not our home…..we’re just a passin’ through!”….. Like so many others, her home was completely destroyed by hurricane Katrina, so she really can’t go home. It is very hard for people to adjust to the aftershocks of what has happened….We left her with the Activated magazine, titled, “New beginnings.”
The person who wrote this does not sound competant to respond to emotional trauma.
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| | | | from thinker711
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 18:31
(Agree/Disagree?)
I just looked at the Family's website and saw their Hurricane Katrina "relief work" testimonials. I now see exactly what you are talking about in your article above. They have story after story of how they are helping victims. However, virtually all of their accounts involve “cheering people up” etc. While doing this type of voluntary work is admirable, it is simply volunteering the same way thousands of others volunteer for their churches, fraternities or civic organizations. On their website, however, they ask for donations for Hurricane Katrina relief work. The problem is that the “relief work” they are engaging in (e.g., dressing up like clowns and performing skits) is not worthy of qualifying as relief work. They should not be asking for donations so that they can put on a clown suit and pocket the money. The money received from these donations is supposed to be spent on food, water, medical supplies, housing assistance, etc. TFI does not expend any resources on this. All of the Family’s work, at best, qualifies as volunteer work. It is fraudulent and unethical for them to accept (much less request) any money that will not directly be spent on the victims.
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| from thinker711
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 13:28
(Agree/Disagree?)
The Family has confused fundraising with "missionary" work. Every charitable organization has a fund-raising branch as it is necessary to raise money to support a cause. TFI, however, never went beyond fundraising. Their mentality is that their sheer existence is worthy of being supported. Their fund-raising and “missionary” work is one and the same; they are indistinguishable. Real missionaries or relief workers are supported by organizations or churches so that they don’t have to spend all their time begging for money from those they are purportedly helping. Handing out a tract or a poster in exchange for a donation is NOT missionary work. It is fund-raising. The money raised is supposed to be used to help others, NOT to live on and order more posters and cassettes to start the process over again. Furthermore, any additional “charitable” work they do (e.g., the Bosnia story you retell in your article) is done with the sole purpose of boosting their ability to raise money. All it means is that they will have another photo to add to their “provisioning” photo album so that they can get more donations from others to support their lifestyle. The vast majority of the donations they bring in are spent on themselves (e.g., to pay the bills for the massive homes they live in). I remember when I was a kid begging for money for “missionary” work, I always felt guilty about it since I knew that we never really did any missionary work (other than giving our “forsake-all” to a local orphanage). If an 8-year-old knows that it is wrong/immoral/unethical then the “spiritual” leaders in TFI have no excuse.
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| | | | from anovagrrl
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 11:07
(Agree/Disagree?)
I've been kvetching about this issue for some time. Glad to hear someone else is annoyed by TFI's charity fraud. It's hard enough for legitimate charities to do their work without having to deal with the bad blood created by the scammers.
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| | | | from moon beam
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 09:42
(Agree/Disagree?)
Couldn't agree more.
(reply to this comment)
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