By Bob Walsh
Sue Pasco
Fire Aid was a big rock concert to raise money for those
people whose homes were destroyed by the SoCal wild fires early this
year. They raised $100 million.
Recently
Sue Pasco, who runs Circling The News, was contacted by a reader to ask
how that reader could put in for some money. That reader, like
Ms.Pasco herself, was one of the 12,000 homeowners who lost their homes
to the fires. Ms. Pasco contacted The Annenberg Foundation, the people
who put on Fire Aid, and asked how one went about putting in for some
dollars. About two weeks later she was put in contact with a fellow
named Chris Wallace, who is their media contact person. It seems that
The Annenberg Foundation does NOT make direct contributions to
individuals. They funnel the money thru various non-profits for final
distribution.
Unfortunately
it seems that the vetting process Annenberg uses may be a bit thin. It
is a six question form. One of the non-profits that got a chunk of
money specializes in the cleaning of bathrooms in preschool education
facilities. Another deals exclusively with mobile home parks. There
were in fact two mobile home parks destroyed by the fire. Unfortunately
it does not appear that any money has gotten to any of those residents
as far as anyone can tell.
Ms.
Pasco's questions seem to have gotten to the right people. Various
government agencies and charity watchdogs are looking in to the issue. A
total of about $75 million of the funds has been distributed to about
120 individual non-profits affiliated in some fashion with Annenberg.
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