Justin Elliott has been a reporter with ProPublica since 2012, covering politics with a focus on money and influence. Given the findings on the compounds, alarm bells "should be ringing four out of five" at the EPA, Kerrigan Clough, a former deputy regional EPA administrator, said in an interview with the AP as he waited for a test for PFAS in the water at his Michigan lake home, which is near a military base that used firefighting foam. 1900 Crown Colony Drive WebHere they are. Red Cross officials deny the group had made decisions based on public relations. Not only do fraudulent charities steal money from patriotic Americans, they also discourage contributors from donating to real Veterans charities, he said in a statement. In Horsham and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. He was in charge of tracking food and, at the time, the Red Cross was already wasting three out of every 10 meals being prepared, he estimates. Phone: 203-744-0100 She executed layoffs and reorganizations that closed local chapters and centralized power at national headquarters in Washington. "So we encourage all Americans to be generous," Taylor said, "but to take a few minutes and do your homework and make sure that every dollar that you donate ends with a charity that can actually do the work.". This bureaucratic nightmare, meanwhile, produced long lines for basic necessities such as water, and victims experienced on average 43-day wait times for the Red Cross to process requests for aid. National Service Foundation - THE DAV Foundation While contamination of drinking water around military bases and factories gets most of the attention, the EPA says 80 percent of human exposure comes from consumer products in the home. It was a dog-and-pony show, Scheifele says. VFW recovered more than $10 billion in compensation in pension on behalf of more than 550,000 veterans and eligible family members in fiscal year 2021. All rights reserved, Southington Drive-In Announces Summer Movie Schedule, Police Identify Man Found Dead on Side of the Road in Watertown, 7 Bodies Found During Search for Missing Oklahoma Teens, Bride Killed and Groom Injured by Speeding DUI Driver After Wedding in South Carolina, Police Say, NBC & Telemundo Connecticut Job Opportunities. Washington became the first state to ban any firefighting foam with the compound. The ad, which depicted Jenner resolving the tension at a protest scene with a can of Pepsi, was pulled after a day and the company issued an apology. A major offender, officials say, was Help the Vets, which had a nationwide operation, soliciting donations for its funding of veterans' medical care, including breast cancer treatment, a suicide prevention program, retreats for recuperating from stressand veterans fighting breast cancer. Laura Sullivan is a NPR News investigative correspondent whose work has cast a light on some of the countrys most disadvantaged people. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Other charities hit with legal actions by federal andstate officialsfor various fraudulent violations include Healing American Heroes, Healing Heroes Network, Operation Troop Aidand Veterans Relief Association. In one case, the Red Cross had to throw out tens of thousands of meals because it couldnt find the people who needed them. National leaders | Kaiser Permanente In one shelter, sex offenders were all over including playing in childrens area because Red Cross staff didnt know/follow procedures.. According to the Red Cross, Chief Executive McGovern participated in the press conference, but Red Cross did not hold the press conference and, to be clear, it was not the reason that ERVs were sent to Staten Island. (The Red Cross did issue a press release for the event, stating that McGovern would have a media availability.), In another diversion, an emergency response vehicle was dispatched to an early December photo-op with supermodel Heidi Klum to tour affected areas with Red Cross supplies, recalled a third senior Red Cross official who requested anonymity because the official still works for the charity. Other recent studies point to immune problems in children, among other things. national veterans service fund public relations pr nightmare. He has since reconciled with top executives and continues to work on disasters for the Red Cross, an organization he says he loves. The FTC and charity regulators and law enforcement officials in every state have teamed up on more than 100 actions against dozens of fake charities, which have collected tens of millions of dollars in donations of cash and vehicles and other goods, all part of scams that did not directly benefit veterans, officials say. "It's a serious problem.". In early December 2012, Red Cross officials asked Bob Scheifele, who was then mass care chief for New York, to put on a demonstration for donors who had funded the Spirit of America, a giant mobile kitchen attached to a semi, which has the capacity to make 30,000 meals a day. When the Red Cross finally appeared weeks after the storm, volunteers were planning to distribute flashlights but discovered they had no batteries, she says. The charity, which took in about $20 million from 2014 to 2017, must pay its remaining assets, at least $72,122.36 to one or more court-approved legitimate veterans More recently, sitting on his patio in a small town in New Mexico, he says his experiences in Isaac and Sandy had permanently altered his view of an organization he had loyally served for years. "Otherwise it's the game of whack-a-mole," she said. 1779 Massachusetts Avenue The FTC and attorneys general in Florida, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohioand Oregonfiled a complaint and reached a settlement with Help the Vets, officials announced Thursday. The claims process can be confusing and no veteran should ever have to go it alone. That was before testing showed it had some of the highest levels of the toxic compounds of any public water system in the U.S. "You all made me out to be a liar," Hagey, general water and sewer manager in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Warminster, told Environmental Protection Agency officials at a hearing last month. Have a question about Government Services? Sometimes, even when supplies were plentiful, they went to waste. More:How much does average American taxpayer give to charity and why could it fall in 2018? Jesse Eisinger is a senior reporter at ProPublica, covering Wall Street and finance. PFAS have been in production since the 1940s, and there are about 3,500 different types. Rieckenberg says this was 40 percent of all available ERVs; the Red Cross says thats wrong but could not say how many ERVs were in New York that day. The official was anticipating a visit by Red Cross brass and wanted to impress them with the level of activity, he says. In January, Eiger sent an objection letter to YouTuber Dian Widianarko, requesting him to take down a product review of one of the companys products. Officers elected annually by national convention delegates include the president, vice president, chaplain, and historian. According to our Terms of Use we have removed Help the Vets Seal of Transparency.". She was also ordered to pay full restitution to the fund, as well as back taxes, interest and penalties. Suite 310 United's latest public relations nightmare was preceded by an incident last month in which two teenagers were barred from boarding their flight because they were wearing leggings. With the charity stumbling badly in the early days after Sandy, Red Cross headquarters began feeling pressure. Jobs usually last a few weeks, beyond which chiefs risk burning out from exhaustion. But law enforcement officials found VietNow used only applied 0.2 percentof its donations to directly helpveterans, officials said. The service said it is "actively reviewing the organizations mentioned" named by the FTC and the states Thursday. Rieckenberg recalls that the Red Cross was failing to get cooking supplies to kitchens run by its partner, the Southern Baptists. "No one wants to say no to a charity that is purportedly supporting veterans. The action led to a mass boycott of the ride sharing service and the hashtag #DeleteUber. With your support, the VFWs National Veterans Service (NVS) helps veterans with VA claims. The claims process can be confusing and no veteran should ever have to go it alone. VFW has offices across the nation, including locations on military installations to help those who have served. However, one internal report casts doubt on the reliability of these figures: The sheer size of the disaster crippled our ability to count the number of relief items distributed, it says. Used to describe decisions or actions made by a corporation or influencer that could potentially lead to their cancellation or wide-spread hate. So did scientific studies that firmed up the health risks. That was incredibly demoralizing.. In Delaware, National Guard troops handed out water after high levels of PFAS were found in a town's water supply. Some of the Red Cross Sandy volunteers were hindered not only by their lack of experience or skills but by their advanced age. From United Airlines violently removing a passenger to Pepsi, Starbucks and Chick-fil-As public faux pas. The Red Cross sent Scheifele home, dismissing one of its most senior disaster responders. Weve written about the National Veterans Services Fund before. "I know that you can't bring back three people that I lost," Betz, a retired airman, told the federal officials at the Horsham meeting. Design direction by David Sleight. She also altered records to conceal her scheme and by falsely claiming that the stolen monies were being paid to veterans in need. The overall Red Cross operation after Isaac was beset by problems. According to court documents and statements made in court, TANNER was employed as a bookkeeper for the National Veterans Service Fund (NVSF) located in Darien. In its most recent year, the Red Cross ran a $70 million budget deficit. Heres where were donating our moneyMore:13 ways to give to charity without breaking your budget. The finding helped move PFAS up as a national priority. Scheifele says he made the arrangements to have it restarted, but there was a snafu, and the Spirit of America didnt get up and running properly. A Podcast For The Rare Disease Community, Rare Disease Cures Accelerator (RDCA-DAP), Policy Statements & Letters to Policymakers, Stay Informed With NORDs Email Newsletter, Launching Registries & Natural History Studies. The Red Cross knows what theyre doing, he said. Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CYNTHIA TANNER, 54, formerly of Darien, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for embezzling approximately $800,000 from a Connecticut-based veterans services organization, and for failing to pay taxes on that income. About half of the pastries were wasted. Every A federal judge issueda temporary restraining order last week prohibiting the group from making unlawful robocalls while the FTC's complaint proceeds. Official websites use .gov Police believe that The Red Cross Secret Disaster ProPublica (ProPublica has raised questions about the opacity of Red Cross disclosures on how this money was spent.). On Nov. 2, 2012, at the peak of the post-storm crisis, 15 were assigned to public relations duties, Rieckenberg says. A former major in the Army, Scheifele was so upset after Isaac that he drafted a resignation letter, though he ultimately decided not to send it. The NVSF was established to manage social services and limited medical assistance to Vietnam and Persian Gulf War veterans and their families with a focus on families with disabled children. Scheifele says they demanded that he fire people under him. They sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Red Cross, confident their money would ease the suffering left behind by Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac. But for thousands of disabled veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, giving an arm and a leg isnt simply a figure of speech its a harsh reality," read one of the Orlando, Florida-based organization's solicitation letters, written by charity founderNeil Paulson. As a reservist, Rieckenberg was paid small sums for responding to disasters. The Red Cross began to see the effects of McGoverns changes in late August 2012, when Hurricane Isaac slammed into the Gulf Coast. When McGovern took the reins, she inherited a sprawling operation with hundreds of chapters across the country. Chiefs often work 18-hour days, setting up makeshift command centers in places like motel hallways, sometimes working without electricity. I believe the reorganizations that have taken place are killing this organization, says Bob Scheifele, a veteran Red Cross disaster response expert who was on the ground after Isaac and Sandy. Founder & CEO Nancy Brinker leading a PR disaster. EPA says it will prepare a national management plan for the compounds by the end of the year. From approximately January 2009 through June 2014, TANNER used nearly $800,000 in NVSF funds to pay various personal expenses for her and her family members. About 460 mass care volunteer workers 90 percent of the workers the organization dispatched to provide food and shelter for the storm overall were stationed in Tampa ahead of landfall, Rieckenbergs emailsfrom the time say. As the Red Cross internal documents note, the challenges of urban disaster response include physically grueling tasks such as walking up stairs in high rises to get to people in need. The Trump administration called the contamination "a potential public relations nightmare" earlier this year after federal toxicology studies found that some of the compounds are more hazardous than previously acknowledged. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. One Red Cross staffer came to a Rockaways community center and asked them to donate some. In one previously unreported incident that became instantly notorious among Sandy responders, the Red Cross brought a truck full of pork lunches to a Jewish retirement high-rise. EPA testing from 2013 to 2015 found significant amounts of PFAS in public water supplies in 33 U.S. states. National Veterans Services Fund - NORD (National We were sent way down on the Gulf with nothing to give, Dunham says. The National Veterans Services Fund, Inc., (formerly Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Victims, Inc.) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and inform The Red Cross mobilized hundreds of volunteers, equipment, emergency vehicles and supplies. The claims process can be confusing and no veteran should ever have to go it Critics slammed the campaign, which began in response to a series police shootings, as a cheap marketing ploy. From writing a news release to planning a major community event, the Public Relations Toolkit will help you get the job done. One reform, the Red Cross says, moved nearly one-third of its disaster positions out of national headquarters and into the field, closer to the victims. Our care Health research National leaders. by Justin Elliott and Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, and Laura Sullivan, NPR, (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images), (Catherine Barde/American Red Cross via Flickr), (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for AOL), (Jason Colston/American Red Cross via Flickr), caliber of the people is a major issue (this is not a training issue). The cost to the Red Cross: about $7 apiece, much more than normal. July 1, 2022 Posted by clients prepaid financial services derbyshire; In early November, headquarters issued an edict that the New York operation needed to start producing more meals. One, looking at a kind of PFAS once used in making Teflon, found a probable link with kidney and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, hypertension in pregnant women and high cholesterol. $8 Million in fund raising and 97% goes back into fundraising. The executives asked Rieckenberg and Scheifele to be patient, promising reforms. Veterans They were the only major player not there, says police lieutenant Matthew Tiedemann, who helped run Bergen Countys response to Sandy. Top Red Cross officials had assured Rieckenberg that someone would get him the locations where staffers could deliver the meals. National Veterans Services Fund - Military-Money During the Sandy disaster, some government officials came to resent the Red Cross. Writing more than 135 unauthorized checks in 2013 alone, Cynthia Tanner, the now-former bookkeeper at National Veterans Services Fund (NVSF), a long time "F" graded charity by CharityWatch, is under police investigation for allegedly embezzling over $185,000 from the veterans charity in 2013. Within minutes of Pepsi unveiling a new ad starring Kendall Jenner, social media users almost unanimously came down against it, calling the protest-themed commercial tone deaf and opportunistic. Staten Island pastors Daniel Delgado and John Rocco Carlo say the Red Cross didn't show up after Sandy. He was asked: Should people give money to the Red Cross? She started working in the Rockaways a couple of days after the storm hit and stayed for 10 months. Webnational public relations firms national puerto rico flag New pr national flower Gone national forest pr g. national pr glassdoor pr national guard national veterans service Video showed security dragging the man being off the plane by his arms with blood on his face. I was quite bluntly told that they didnt care it was the plan that was going to make the ARC [American Red Cross] look the best to the local politicians, he wrote. Washington, DC 20036 A former veterans services organization bookkeeper who plead guilty to embezzling close to $800,000 has been sentenced to two years in prison. He was quickly promoted and became part of a select group of Mass Care Chiefs. In Red Cross lingo, mass care is the provision of food, shelter and supplies immediately after a disaster. Veteran's Service Bookkeeper Sentenced to 2 Years for Stealing Money Minute, What's next for experimental AI projects in the C4ISR sphere. There was an additional problem with unrelated adults showering with children., Its hard for us to know based on this document exactly what occurred and where, the charity wrote in a statement. If you have information about the Red Cross, email [emailprotected]. Henry Betz, at 76, rattles around his house alone at night, thinking about the water his family unknowingly drank for years that was tainted by the same contaminants, and the pancreatic cancers that killed wife Betty Jean and two others in his household.
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