Received a nice coffee mug yesterday from an outfit called "The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial" Even has my name on it and a full color American eagle with the slogan "Freedom Is Not Free!".
I had just run checks on a few outfits that my mother-in-law donates money to every month. One was a scam, the others OK. So I checked on this outfit.
Congress has authorized a memorial to American Vets who have been disabled for life and this outfit is in charge of it. The goal is $65 million and it has matching funds from the woman who inherited the National Enquirer (bells and alarms!!!). Gary Cinese (sp?) is the spokesman, I guess because he once played a disabled vet in Forrest Gump (Hi. I'm not a disabled vet, but I played one in a movie).
Bottom line: Total amount of expenses for fundraising is 94% That means that a whopping 6% actually goes to the memorial. The diot woman who provides matching funds was given this information by her son. She told him to destroy the report.
So, if you are a vet, a family member, a supporter or just plain like to help out a cause here and there, you might want to google this and other outfits before writing that check. 6% equals a complete scam.
Tom
PS. I'm keeping the coffee cup