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Wounded Warrior Refuses Donation From Church

MarineTpartier said:
The Wounded Warrior Project, citing a conflict with the fundraisers policies, refused what was potentially $50,000 in donations from the Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla.
"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.”

This is friggin ridiculous. If I were laid up in a hospital and receiving treatment for losing both legs, for instance, I wouldn't care if the money came from a religious event. I would just be happy I'm receiving the treatment. Hopefully this church can find another charity that caters to a similar cause. Maybe The Fisher House or something like that. This is a sad display of political correctness IMO.

Church Says Wounded Warrior Project Refused Their Money | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes
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If you were laid up in a hospital bed, receiving treatment from injuries sustained in combat, I'm pretty sure Uncle Sam would be paying the bill.
 
MarineTpartier said:
The Wounded Warrior Project, citing a conflict with the fundraisers policies, refused what was potentially $50,000 in donations from the Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla.
"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.”

This is friggin ridiculous. If I were laid up in a hospital and receiving treatment for losing both legs, for instance, I wouldn't care if the money came from a religious event. I would just be happy I'm receiving the treatment. Hopefully this church can find another charity that caters to a similar cause. Maybe The Fisher House or something like that. This is a sad display of political correctness IMO.

Church Says Wounded Warrior Project Refused Their Money | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes
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The better question would be why do our military veterans have to beg for money to cover health bills? If we can spend trillions waging offensive, interventionist wars then I think we can afford to take care of the troops we send over to fight and die for a corporations right to make more money.
 
Catawba said:
No doubt, the Fox news story makes the Wounded Warrior decision look bad. However, I think I'll withhold judgment until more details become available.
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Yeah, on the face of it, it looks silly. However, I'll wait until I see the story from a real news source.
 
MarineTpartier said:
The Wounded Warrior Project, citing a conflict with the fundraisers policies, refused what was potentially $50,000 in donations from the Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla.
"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.”

This is friggin ridiculous. If I were laid up in a hospital and receiving treatment for losing both legs, for instance, I wouldn't care if the money came from a religious event. I would just be happy I'm receiving the treatment. Hopefully this church can find another charity that caters to a similar cause. Maybe The Fisher House or something like that. This is a sad display of political correctness IMO.

Church Says Wounded Warrior Project Refused Their Money | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes
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My band performs at benefits now and again. You would not believe at all the hoops the organizers have to jump through just to donate money to them. Especially the MDA. Make-A-Wish and the American Diabetes Foundation are almost as bad.

They often act as if they are the one's doing you the favor. My opinion is if they don't want the money, to hell with them. Give it to somebody else.
 
MarineTpartier said:
I can't think of any charities off the top of my head that have been criticized for taking money from a church. Do you have any examples?
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Everyone seems to be distancing themselves from Westboro Baptist.

"Lyon mentioned Black Lotus decided to donate income created from WBC to charity following supporters began a full blown Twitter campaign boycotting any firm who gives providers to WBC, in addition to out to Anonymous spokespersons and requested their views on how the subject must be taken care of. significantly, the quantity Black Lotus has received WBC is very tiny and will make donations effectively in excessive in the charges WBC pays, said Lyon, adding that it's currently informed WBC of its intentions."

Black Lotus to Donate Income from Westboro Baptist Church to Charity - zmxchina

A Nation United Against Westboro: 12 Actions Taken Against The Inflammatory Church In 2012


There is even a Facebook group of veterans Against the Westboro Baptist church:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veterans-AGAINST-the-Westboro-Baptist-Church/10


Have we even seen a major news outlet pick up this story? I'm only seeing it from Fox News and far right blogs.
 
Sounds pretty silly to me, it isn't like they are donating for a nefarious reason.
 
http://www.wwphighcap.org/media/4554/fy2010_wwp_990.pdf

Here is the 2009 tax return of WWP, as required by law.

Look at their comfortable salaries, overhead, fundraising expenses and administration.

Half of what they take in goes to cover these expenses.

I call the organization as a scam, and not worth any donation from anyone.
 
MarineTpartier said:
Exactly, so what's the difference in relgious people doing it and religious groups? All they are is groups of religious people. Charities like WWP are beyound partisanship I believe. What right minded politician or pundit is going to criticize an organization like WWP for taking that money? None that I know of. WWP and charities like it are almost in the realm of untouchable, policially speaking.
As far as why we know it, I'm not sure. From what I can tell, the church itself called attention to the incident by telling Fox News about it. That's me speculating though.
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The difference is that if seen to be affiliated with a specific religious group it could alienate other religious groups to the detriment of the wounded warriors. The people of this country love to find reasons to alienate each other....
 
SMTA said:
http://www.wwphighcap.org/media/4554/fy2010_wwp_990.pdf

Here is the 2009 tax return of WWP, as required by law.

Look at their comfortable salaries, overhead, fundraising expenses and administration.

Half of what they take in goes to cover these expenses.

I call the organization as a scam, and not worth any donation from anyone.
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I personally know quite a few people WWP has helped, they are far from a scam.
 
MarineTpartier said:
That's the point of this entire thread. It is in violation of their charter and it shouldn't be. Helping wounded vets is the point of their charity and they refused what could have been $50,000 for a useless policy.
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Key phrase in this is COULD HAVE BEEN. it is rather deceitful to put a number to an event that never even started. Wonder what percentage of the annual donations 50K COULD HAVE BEEN? it could very well be the WWP didn't want to violate it's charter for a percentage point or two of their annual budget.

Seems kind of sudden for a Church group to be the first to run into this rule. Is this telling on Church groups not being very supportive of the WWP or have these groups agreed and reformatted their drive to comply with the WWP policies.

HMMMMMMMM
 
I knew the non-Fox News version of this would eventually come out -

"Wounded Warrior Project - Hi Joseda, We do gratefully accept donations from churches and religious groups, and always have.

There has been a ton of confusion that started when a church group submitted an application to host a community fundraising event. We declined the event because it didn't meet the criteria that are applicable to all events- religious or otherwise. Much has been made of the specific wording in the letter, but it was a mistake that does not accurately describe our policies. Our staff members are human, and like all humans, we make mistakes. As soon as we discovered what had happened, we called the church to apologize and explain the miscommunication.

The fact that people are suggesting that this was motivated by religious discrimination is incredibly sad, especially since it's causing people to lose sight of the most important issue- the veterans we serve.

"https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans?fref=ts&filter=2



This should be a lesson to those that believe what they hear on Fox News without confirming it with other sources.
 
Surtr said:
If you were laid up in a hospital bed, receiving treatment from injuries sustained in combat, I'm pretty sure Uncle Sam would be paying the bill.
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Yep, and WWP would be helping me with trying to find a job, receiving psychiatric treatment, etc. Or, you can stick your head in the sand and believe "Uncle Sam" does a great job of caring for vets. Have you ever been to Walter Reed?
 
Catawba said:
I knew the non-Fox News version of this would eventually come out -

"Wounded Warrior Project - Hi Joseda, We do gratefully accept donations from churches and religious groups, and always have.

There has been a ton of confusion that started when a church group submitted an application to host a community fundraising event. We declined the event because it didn't meet the criteria that are applicable to all events- religious or otherwise. Much has been made of the specific wording in the letter, but it was a mistake that does not accurately describe our policies. Our staff members are human, and like all humans, we make mistakes. As soon as we discovered what had happened, we called the church to apologize and explain the miscommunication.

The fact that people are suggesting that this was motivated by religious discrimination is incredibly sad, especially since it's causing people to lose sight of the most important issue- the veterans we serve.

"https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans?fref=ts&filter=2



This should be a lesson to those that believe what they hear on Fox News without confirming it with other sources.
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No, this should be a lesson to WWP that they need to proofread their correspondence before they send it out. Fox News reported what WWP said. They even showed a copy of the email on the story. You, on the other hand, chose to pick and choose what you wanted to out of the email you found and highlight it in order to prove your point. Which is exactly what you accused Fox of doing. Quote, from the original WWP email that started all of this "“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,” Take a lesson from your own criticism bro.

It's good the WWP owned their mistake and clarified their policies. Who knows why the original email came out and that doesn't really matter at this point. I'm just glad they ended that madness quickly.
 
MarineTpartier said:
No, this should be a lesson to WWP that they need to proofread their correspondence before they send it out. Fox News reported what WWP said. They even showed a copy of the email on the story. You, on the other hand, chose to pick and choose what you wanted to out of the email you found and highlight it in order to prove your point. Which is exactly what you accused Fox of doing. Quote, from the original WWP email that started all of this "“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,” Take a lesson from your own criticism bro.

It's good the WWP owned their mistake and clarified their policies. Who knows why the original email came out and that doesn't really matter at this point. I'm just glad they ended that madness quickly.
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Real and honest news reporters would call them up to verify the facts.

But we're not talking about real and honest news reporters. We're talking about FoxNews
 
MarineTpartier said:
No, this should be a lesson to WWP that they need to proofread their correspondence before they send it out. Fox News reported what WWP said. They even showed a copy of the email on the story. You, on the other hand, chose to pick and choose what you wanted to out of the email you found and highlight it in order to prove your point. Which is exactly what you accused Fox of doing. Quote, from the original WWP email that started all of this "“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,” Take a lesson from your own criticism bro.

It's good the WWP owned their mistake and clarified their policies. Who knows why the original email came out and that doesn't really matter at this point. I'm just glad they ended that madness quickly.
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I highlighted what I found just through my own online search, and what Fox News failed to when they ran this story which no other major news outlet ran.
 
Catawba said:
I highlighted what I found just through my own online search, and what Fox News failed to when they ran this story which no other major news outlet ran.
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Yes, you found what WWP said AFTER THE FACT. Like I said, their original letter spoke for itself. It specifically stated that they would not accept donations from events religious in nature. What more is there to investigate? It was WWP's responsibility to clarify themselves, which they did. But to say Fox News reported something inaccurately is dishonest. They reported what the friggin email said, point blank. I won't sit here and say Fox is always right. They aren't. But in this case they were. And that bothers you due to your partisanship. Not because they are a news organization that you believe was wrong.
 
MarineTpartier said:
Yes, you found what WWP said AFTER THE FACT. Like I said, their original letter spoke for itself. It specifically stated that they would not accept donations from events religious in nature. What more is there to investigate? It was WWP's responsibility to clarify themselves, which they did. But to say Fox News reported something inaccurately is dishonest. They reported what the friggin email said, point blank. I won't sit here and say Fox is always right. They aren't. But in this case they were. And that bothers you due to your partisanship. Not because they are a news organization that you believe was wrong.
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What is partisan about not going off half cocked against the honor of an organization dedicated to improving the lives of wounded veterans?

The Fox story implied it was the donation that was refused,
Look at the headline of the news story you quoted. "Wounded Warrior Refuses Donation From Church", when in fact it was co-participating in an event that was refused. A simple call to the Wounded Warriors administrator would have made that clear. Wouldn't that have been the least they should do to confirm before publishing a "news" story?



And you are welcome for me providing the actual position of WWP on church donations!
 
MarineTpartier said:
Yep, and WWP would be helping me with trying to find a job, receiving psychiatric treatment, etc. Or, you can stick your head in the sand and believe "Uncle Sam" does a great job of caring for vets. Have you ever been to Walter Reed?
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Nope, and nobody will since it closed last year. I never had to use any programs to get a job, even with my problems, since there are a great deal of companies willing to hire veterans. One widely recognized charity that rakes in millions a year refusing a relatively small $50,000 donation because it conflicted with their standards is not going to hurt anyone. If anything, they should be commended for sticking to their principals. That's very rare these days.
 
Catawba said:
Your insults are noted. Now back to the topic: Having their organization set up as a non-partisan organization also eliminates the possibility they would be associated with an Islamic Fundamentalists, just as it eliminates them from being associated with Christian Fundamentalists.

I think the founding Veterans were very wise to structure the organization in a non-partisan manner.
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Unfortunately the way of the world these days, damned it you do, damned if you don't.

I can just as easily see a headline stating "WWP takes money from (insert current boogie man here)" and it causing havoc for the charity.
There is always someone looking to create drama where there shouldn't be. Shame on society for forcing them to take this position.
 
MarineTpartier said:
Yep, and WWP would be helping me with trying to find a job, receiving psychiatric treatment, etc. Or, you can stick your head in the sand and believe "Uncle Sam" does a great job of caring for vets. Have you ever been to Walter Reed?
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Not Walter Reed, but the VA hospital downtown Chicago. The place would be a great movie set for horror genre films.
 
Catawba said:
What is partisan about not going off half cocked against the honor of an organization dedicated to improving the lives of wounded veterans?
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It's partisan because you are posting about this simply because the news organization in question is Fox News. And of course, Fox News is the right wing propaganda machine of the GOP correct? That is why you are even remotely interested in this. If this were MSNBC, you would have no presence on this thread. Have you commented on MSNBC's splicing of yet another tape during the Congressional hearings about gun control? There is a thread about it and it is a similar story.
Catawba said:
The Fox story implied it was the donation that was refused,
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No, the letter from WWP implied that. Fox simply reported what the letter said.
Catawba said:
Look at the headline of the news story you quoted. "Wounded Warrior Refuses Donation From Church", when in fact it was co-participating in an event that was refused. A simple call to the Wounded Warriors administrator would have made that clear. Wouldn't that have been the least they should do to confirm before publishing a "news" story?
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As I've already said, Fox showed the letter WWP sent them plainly stating that the WWP refused a donation on the basis of the event being religious in nature. As I've also already said, WWP should have proofread their correspondence before allowing it to leave their office. They did not, and they had to answer for it. End of story.
 
As someone who contributes to the WWP i gotta say, unless it's dirty drug cash, take the money yo!
 
StillBallin75 said:
As someone who contributes to the WWP i gotta say, unless it's dirty drug cash, take the money yo!
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As it turns out, WWP misspoke on their intial email to the church. The church was DQ'd for another reason, not the originally reported religious reason. WWP cleared it up.
 
MarineTpartier said:
It's partisan because you are posting about this simply because the news organization in question is Fox News. And of course, Fox News is the right wing propaganda machine of the GOP correct? That is why you are even remotely interested in this. If this were MSNBC, you would have no presence on this thread. Have you commented on MSNBC's splicing of yet another tape during the Congressional hearings about gun control? There is a thread about it and it is a similar story.
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Nice rant! Completely untrue and irrelevant to the discussion and obviously meant to deflect since I rebutted your Fox News story, but nice rant nonetheless.

No, the letter from WWP implied that. Fox simply reported what the letter said.
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Without even bothering to call the WWP administrator, Fox News, and Fox News alone, attacks the reputation of a fine organization that helps wounded veterans. And have they even issued a correction now that we know WWP doesn't refuse donations from churches? Does Fox News even know that yet?

As I've already said, Fox showed the letter WWP sent them plainly stating that the WWP refused a donation on the basis of the event being religious in nature. As I've also already said, WWP should have proofread their correspondence before allowing it to leave their office. They did not, and they had to answer for it. End of story.
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Another cracker jack news job by Fox News eh? :lamo
 
StillBallin75 said:
As someone who contributes to the WWP i gotta say, unless it's dirty drug cash, take the money yo!
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As we found out, they do accept cash donations from churches, but they don't participate in religious fundraiser events, which is what Liberty Baptist Academy requested.
 
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