What do you know about the Southern Belle in this story, Beth? Is she as bitchy as her ex-pals say?

She looks like a horse to me!

I’ll never give another penny to the American Red Cross either. Join me in boycotting them! Give your money to a charity that won’t spend it on ugly women.

I bet this will really impact their disaster aid.

[…] Post Reporter Is a “Chastity All-Star” | Mitt’s Secret Mormon Angel | Did Lynne Cheat on Dick? Bigger Red Cross Embezzlement Scandal In Store? Friday December 7th, 2007 12:48 PM by BHDC Staff   Filed under: Sex, Scandals, Mark Everson,Paige Roberts We told you last week that the American Red Cross was quick to fire CEO Mark Everson for having a “personal relationship” with Paige Roberts, CEO of the Southeast Red Cross Chapter, as both both are married, and Roberts is now pregnant with Everson’s child. But some in the non-profit community think the sex scandal may just be the tip of the iceberg of a larger, more complicated Red Cross finance scandal. A new editorial by Kirby Sommers, founder and president of a group called Katrina Home Drive, has penned an editorial with some shocking allegations: This red hot Red Cross sex scandal has sent shockwaves throughout the nonprofit community. But is there something more sinister here? A conspiracy perhaps? Could the Red Cross’ quick as lightning firing of Everson be a cover-up for a much more serious offense? […]

Red Cross in Red Hot Seat Again: 100 Woes, by Kirby Sommers

Program Allegedly Misappropriated Katrina funds

A Red Cross program, 100 Homes in 100 Days, formed to address the biggest issue remaining in Katrina recovery: affordable housing for families impacted by Hurricane Katrina in Pascagoula, Mississippi is being accused of alleged mismanagement of funds, poor oversight, and defrauding dozens of unsuspecting families.

A Red Cross Press Release dated March 26, 2007 states:

“Five organizations lead a coalition effort to renovate and rebuild 100 homes in 100 calendar days. The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Mississippi Home Again, Hope Has a Face Foundation and Jackson County Community Services Coalition have created a project process that focuses on rebuilding entire neighborhoods in a compressed timeframe.”

“I believe there’s collusion on the part of Mark Everson and Paige Roberts on the 100/100 program,” one recovery specialist, who wishes to remain anonymous, told me during a recent interview.

You read it right: that would be the same Mark Everson who just got canned from the Red Cross and the same Paige Roberts who was named as Everson’s married mistress who happens to be CEO of the Southeast Mississippi Red Cross chapter.

The recovery specialist added, “Working with the Long Term Recovery Committee we have roundtable meetings and everyone has oversight. Except for Paige, she told us she had been given a waiver from the national office, so all they did was ask for money with just the person’s name, no receipts, no paperwork, and got as much as $30,000.00 for each home.”

According to an article in the Mississippi Press dated July 5, 2007, the project ended on the 4th of July with only 65 homes completed.

Jim Yancey of the Jackson County Community Services Coalition is quoted in the article as saying “We will finish all 100 homes.”

Here’s where we can start dissecting this. First, it is not 100 homes, the real number of homes in the project is 99. At some point someone decided 100 was better for generating publicity and it became known as the 100 Homes 100 Days Project.

100/100, as it is referred to within the agencies, was funded through the Red Cross’s Means to Recovery program (another heavily criticized Red Cross Katrina help project) allotting a cap of $20,000 to be used per home. The Salvation Army added another $10,000.

The money, according to some of the people working on hurricane relief, is all gone. But none of the families in the homes that have yet to be finished know their portion of the money has been used up.

“Where is the money?” A second recovery specialist, also wishing to remain anonymous, murmured. “If you request funding once, you can’t go back and ask for more funding. You have to follow the proper channels and that wasn’t done. The Red Cross broke its own rules. All of us have to follow Red Cross’s rules. But not Paige.”

Add to this the concern that none of the families were given a case worker, although each one was assigned one with Red Cross. And then there’s the extra money Roberts is reported to have received from national headquarters in Washington, D.C. to hire more case workers.

If none of the families knew they had a case worker, allegations of them not knowing how much money was requested to make the necessary repairs to their home, or how their allocated money was spent would mean required documentation, as is the norm, would have been disregarded.

“You can’t draw $30,000 for someone’s home and put $5,000 of it in that home and then use the other $25,000 somewhere else. And the Red Cross did that in every case that I can think of!” A former relief group director, who also wishes to remain anonymous exclaimed. “I have relatives that have a home in that area and I haven’t disclosed this to them because I don’t know what to do after that. There was no accountability, no oversight.”

To make matters worse, Roberts has allegedly tapped into all existing funds available for every home in the 100 day 100 home project.

There has been talk of getting another big name nonprofit to come in and finish the job, but all parties are concerned they won’t be able to do this without exposing misappropriated donor dollars on the part of Paige Roberts and the Red Cross.

Accountability and disrespect for donor dollars is at the heart of the matter. The Red Cross, despite its countless debacles and cries from the public for transparency, continues to operate with virtually no oversight.

On December 7th just days after firing Mark Everson the American Red Cross quietly stated they found no financial wrongdoing on the part of their ousted Chief Executive Officer.
According to Carrie Martin, a Red Cross spokeswoman, the review of Mr. Everson’s spending focused on travel costs and expenses reports. It was conducted in-house by the charity’s office of investigations, compliance and ethics, under the direction of the general counsel.

A forensic audit was supposed to have taken place. These types of audits aren’t usually concluded as quickly as Everson’s was. No documentation was ever produced to the public, nor is any forthcoming.

And how is it that CEOs of large organizations and politicians caught with their pants down normally get ravaged by the media with their follies as front page fodder for days, even months on end but this juicy tidbit within the largest nonprofit on the planet, gets only three mentions in the press? One of which was local.

The buzz stayed on the internet.

With the media protecting the Red Cross and not caring enough to cover any more Katrina related topics, thank goodness for outlets like blogs and news forums and online publications. Which, of course, leads to more revelations…

Did I mention Everson sent his daughter to stay in Roberts home for three weeks to work as an interim during the summer? Hmmm….

And, as for whether or not Mrs. Roberts, who is now expecting Everson’s child will get fired or not – seems she’s got the upper hand.

It is rumored the Board of Directors have requested her resignation, among other things. But the Mississippi Queen has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. Someone is stepping down, but it isn’t Paige Roberts. Off with their heads, the Queen has commanded.

Kirby Sommers