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Church Says Wounded Warrior Project Refused Their Money
Fox News ^ | 02/01/2013 | Todd Starnes

Posted on 02/04/2013 5:30:34 PM PST by lqcincinnatus

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“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.”

WWP said as a nonpartisan organization they cannot accept event fundraising from companies “in which the product or message is religious in nature.”

Pastor Cooley said they were so shocked that the school secretary called Wounded Warrior to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake. He said a WWP representative assured her that “religious” was indeed on their banned list.

“We had to tell our children and parents we can’t give to the Wounded Warrior Project,” Pastor Cooley told Fox News. “We are second-class citizens now because we are people of faith.”

A Wounded Warrior told Fox News they would look into the matter. The organization did not respond to subsequent telephone calls.

The fundraising project was a joint effort by the 400-member church and the 460 students who attend the academy. The pastor said he first learned about WWP by watching Fox News Channel.

The email the church received from Wounded Warrior

“We appreciate the freedoms we enjoy in this country and the fact that our soldiers have fought for freedom of religion,” he said. “We teach patriotism in our school.”

The pastor said they expected to raise as much as $50,000 for the veterans.

“We are not a wealthy congregation,” he said. “But they are generous. We could tell as we began to talk to our people that it stirred their hearts.”

He said the idea of giving sacrificially to help someone else struck a chord with students in the academy.

Ted and Cherilyn Mein have two young daughters who attend the school. She said the girls were simply devastated by the news that the fundraising effort had been cancelled.

“Our school is all about patriotism,” she told Fox News. “We teach that our country was founded for religious freedom – and then to find out that we couldn’t even support the Wounded Warriors because we are Christians – it was hard to explain it to them.”

Kindergarten teacher Tanya Sue Albritton posted a note on the Wounded Warrior Project Facebook page recounting what she had to tell her class.

“They were very sad,” Albritton wrote. “One little girl wanted to know, ‘Why can’t we share with the soldiers?’”

“I was at a loss as to what I should tell her because I don’t understand it myself,” she wrote. “Well, WWP, why can’t we share with the soldiers?”

Cooley broke the news to his congregation in what he called “one of the saddest letters I have ever had to write.”

“We are very disappointed that we, as a religious organization, are being discriminated against,” he wrote to parents. “But they are a private organization and have and should have the freedom to make their own rules.”

On the flip side, the pastor told parents that “we also have the right to make our choice as to where our support goes.”

Becky Sharp teaches sixth grade at Liberty Baptist Academy. She posted a message on the Wounded Warrior Facebook page noting here extreme disappointment. She said her students had already raised $400 – many of the boys and girls donated their lunch money.

“I am deeply disappointed that an organization such as yours would reject money from American citizens who want to thank their soldiers for what they have done,” she wrote.

Parents like the Meins are now struggling with how to explain to their children what happened.

“I can’t say that I’ve found a good way to explain it to my children yet,” she said.

The pastor said they have already returned donations that had been collected and will be looking for another veterans group to help.

1 posted on 02/04/2013 5:30:38 PM PST by lqcincinnatus
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To: lqcincinnatus

Since you didn’t bother to comment I will

Wounded Warriors did not reject the church’s money as such. What they said was you have to raise money in a certain way. The church didn’t and so that donation was politely rejected. The church had NO business violating the request of WW. If you want to give to an organization follow their fund raising rules other wise find some place else to donate.

It was not just the money it was an EVENT to raise the money that was the key. Had the church just had a yard sale or a bake sale or simply put out collection cans and have people staff those on the street corner they would have been fine. Tough Mudders supports WW by meeting the criteria. This church has no gripe as far as I am concerned. Seems to me they just wanted to play big shot and say look at me look at me, rather than really helpour wounded heroes.


2 posted on 02/04/2013 5:37:33 PM PST by Nifster
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To: lqcincinnatus

What is this? They don’t accept donations officially collected from religious organizations?

Perhaps I misunderstand this. I hope so.

If true, we have lost our way completely.


3 posted on 02/04/2013 5:38:08 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: Nifster

Hm. I guess I look at a bake sale as an event...what was it they did wrong? Did they have a church service at the same time and pass a plate around or something?


4 posted on 02/04/2013 5:45:46 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: lqcincinnatus

I remember a few months ago that WWP refused donations from a group that supported 2nd amendment issues.


5 posted on 02/04/2013 5:47:51 PM PST by JABit (Another retired vet.)
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To: Nifster

The article explained nothing.

I went to the site under the FAQ and there was a question what fundraisers does WWP not support? and it said “WWP fundraisers cannot be sexual or political in nature and cannot be partnered with alcohol brands.”

If you know why they don’t allow something the church was doing, would you be willing to post it here? There are a lot of Freepers, including myself who donate every year to this organization, and would be interested in understanding this. Perhaps there is some kind of tax reason they can’t, but I would like to know more.


6 posted on 02/04/2013 5:54:35 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: Nifster

The article explained nothing.

I went to the site under the FAQ and there was a question what fundraisers does WWP not support? and it said “WWP fundraisers cannot be sexual or political in nature and cannot be partnered with alcohol brands.”

If you know why they don’t allow something the church was doing, would you be willing to post it here? There are a lot of Freepers, including myself who donate every year to this organization, and would be interested in understanding this. Perhaps there is some kind of tax reason they can’t, but I would like to know more.


7 posted on 02/04/2013 5:54:35 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: lqcincinnatus

WW issues a press release saying it was a mistake. Although their website apparently does say they wont accept donations from religious organizations.


8 posted on 02/04/2013 6:01:42 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Nifster
Sorry, I disagree. This is not the first dust up with the Wounded Warrior Project. “Non Partisan” doesn't mean prohibited from accepting money from “religious” organizations anymore than there is a “separation of Church and State” to be found in the Constitution.
This is a very public way of saying “We don’t do business with ‘those people’.”
If they tried that with blacks, or gays or other “PC” groups they'd be under Federal indictment.
I don't believe WW Project needs my support.
9 posted on 02/04/2013 6:09:03 PM PST by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: driftdiver

I did a search on their website for “religion” and got no hits. A search for “religious” gave one hit, and it dealt with organizations that wanted to get a grant from WWP to administer to vets on their own:

*******************************
Before submitting a letter of interest, please read through our FAQs to determine your organization’s grant eligibility. The following opportunities are not eligible for WWP funding:

State or federal programs
Debt reduction
Annual appeals and fundraising events
Political action or religious groups
Medical or academic research
Think tanks
Any activities that include alcohol
Endowments
*******************************

I don’t get the impression that this was what the church was trying to do...it sounded like they just wanted to send them money. I simply don’t get this.


10 posted on 02/04/2013 6:10:49 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: lqcincinnatus

OK, who runs the “charity”, how much are they making in salary and what is their political affiliation?


11 posted on 02/04/2013 6:13:46 PM PST by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

Didn’t WW’s CEO recently try to walk back an appearance on a gun radio show and only make it worse the more he explained. Do I also recall that the guy’s salary was HUGE?

Sounds like WW has no clue about their donor/demographics.


12 posted on 02/04/2013 6:15:11 PM PST by Let's Roll (Save the world's best healthcare - REPEAL, DEFUND Obamacare!)
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To: Let's Roll

Here is link to questions I raised about WWP. Scroll down.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=wounded%20warrior


13 posted on 02/04/2013 6:19:23 PM PST by Let's Roll (Save the world's best healthcare - REPEAL, DEFUND Obamacare!)
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

I give a decently sized donation to them every year around Christmas, and if they have some bizarre rationale, I want to know so I can choose.

They may have a very good reason, some kind of tax handcuff of some sort, but...I would like to know more.

I find it is getting harder for me to donate and not feel my money is being misused. Everyone has some kind of reason not to donate here and not to donate there. Every year I give to WWP, The Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society, the SemperFi Fund, the Fisher House, and the USO.

I decided not to give to the USO this year (and donated that elsewhere) because it seemed the USO jumped into bed with JC Penney with both feet, and I have issues with JCP.

It seems like everything has a seamy underbelly. Although, I did have a group I met through the DC chapter of FR who purchased laptops for wounded soldiers, and 100% of the money donated purchased laptops that were delivered...THAT was a great group, but I don’t think they are doing it anymore.


14 posted on 02/04/2013 6:20:14 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: lqcincinnatus

Wounded warriors anti-gun?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2960768/posts

WWP allocates 55 percent of its revenue to program expenses and 44.8 percent to fundraising and administrative expenses.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2959552/posts

give the money to the Fisher House Foundation... which provides free housing for the families of the wounded warriors and other veterans. A better organization that does not waste the money on bloated overhead.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2984595/posts

Steven Nardizzi, the $319k/year salary — Executive Director of Wounded Warrior Project, fumbled badly out of the gate in his efforts to diffuse the brouhaha over his group’s refusal to participate on Gun Talk Radio last weekend on Veteran’s Day.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2961122/posts


15 posted on 02/04/2013 6:21:03 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: rlmorel
This story has a little more info - http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/wounded-warrior-project-apologizes-for-rejecting-church-donation.html

It includes an image of the email from WWP rejecting the donations.


16 posted on 02/04/2013 6:22:55 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Let's Roll

Compensation % of Expenses - 0.55%

$319,692 -Steven Nardizz - Executive Director


17 posted on 02/04/2013 6:23:55 PM PST by kcvl
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To: USMCPOP

Hey, USMCPOP, how you been doing? What is your take on this?


18 posted on 02/04/2013 6:24:01 PM PST by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: Let's Roll

Compensation % of Expenses - 0.55%

$319,692 -Steven Nardizz - Executive Director


19 posted on 02/04/2013 6:24:15 PM PST by kcvl
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To: Let's Roll

Compensation % of Expenses - 0.55%

$319,692 -Steven Nardizzi - Executive Director


20 posted on 02/04/2013 6:24:48 PM PST by kcvl
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