Charity Shop
Hello
I was around the grey area recently & I am ashamed to say that I overheard a conversation that involved a charity shop nearby, the conversation suggested that there are a lot of staff leaving and some money has gone missing ? I am a charity supporter, particularly when it comes to supporting children’s charity’s & local communities, so this naturally disturbed me, can anyone shed some light, or could it possibly be sour grapes.
Alan. Thank you for the comment but I would ask that Carol and Ian leave this comment on here and my response along with everyone else's. Its is public money that keeps this shop and charity alive and kicking. As I've stated anyone can come and browse through the accounts as long as there looked at for the right reasons.
Impact Charity,On reading your request I thought the obvious thing to do was to delete my original comment.as it may get confusing to other forum readers.
I will say that as of quite recently I have been in this charity shop to drop a donation into the EMAUS tin and will continue to do so.I fully trust everyone I have seen working in the shop and of the way it is run,I just hope that no one believes that Impact is not run properly and the shop goes from strengh to strengh.
Perhaps after reading this even more people should pop in to either purchase something or drop a donation in to one or more of the collection tins on the counter
It is extremely rare that either myself or Ian delete any of the postings up here. On occasions we have, but unless a person is really getting quite nasty, or perhaps if the same posting keeps appearing we will delete or edit it, but other than that we just let you all get on with it.
There have been accusations made over recent weeks about the treasurer of a charity shop on the urb where money and designer label clothes have gone missing. I wonder if it is the same story that Lucy is referring to.
Don. I will be keeping a close eye on this myself (Christine). We have two people who sort iron and clean the donations that come in. They are myself and one other volunteer in the shop.
I think Lucy was referring to a charity near the grey area. Impact charity is the only charity near the grey area. I'm hoping she can elaborate on this or speak to me personally at the shop.
I believe that Don is probably confusing the Impact charity shop with K9 charity shop at the top end of the urbanization next to Dreams bar. It is the ladies in the K9 charity shop that have expelled the treasurer because she was suspected of misapproiating funds.
Right, now it's time for the truth.
As many of you will know, I normally comment using Pauline's account, but owing to the severity of the last comment, I felt it would be better to set up my own account and answer in my own right.
As Secretary of the outgoing K9 committe, I would like to confirm that the previous Treasurer of K9 was not "expelled" from the committee, nor was she asked to leave for any reason. In fact she resigned of her own free will, along with another 6 members of the committee (the President, at the time, and myself), at a committee meeting held on the 7th February 2012. As a result of this exodus of serving committee members, and the subsequent resignation of another member through ill health, only 1 committee member remained, which meant that an EGM had to be held to vote in a new committee to oversee the running of K9. This EGM was carried out in the absolute correct manner, and a new committee was duly formed. This is FACT. As far as I am aware, we all wished the new committee good luck, as ultimately it would be the animals who would suffer if the charity was not able to operate. In fact at least 3 of the previous committee were invited back onto the new committee and are still serving in their new capacities.
Unfortunately, since all this has happened, there have been various rumours and innuendoes (both verbal and in forums such as this one) about why certain people have left etc, and so called sabotage actions to try to make K9 fail. To date we have tried to ignore them as typical "La Marina" gossip. I am sure that it has been the case of someone overhearing a snippet of a conversation, adding their embellishment etc and then passing it on (the typical "Chinese Whispers" syndrome).
However, this must stop now. Once comments, such as Sandra's above, have been made it is no longer something that can be ignored. People must stop passing on what they hear on the street and in the bars and seek the truth from those who were/are involved and actually know what has gone on. Once inaccurate statements (such as the one above) have been made, either verbally or in writing, peoples characters are being attacked and this can not be allowed to continue. Therefore, before making such libellous/slanderous comments, please make sure that they are the truth and not just gossip.
In closing, Pauline and myself would still like to wish all the members of K9 (and all the other charities in the area) the very best in their endeavours, as we know how many animals (and, of course, humans) are reliant upon them. Thank you.
Thanks for that reply,it was the correct thing to do regarding the earlier comment.
I think now is the time to call a halt,to all the insinuations,that have now been thrown at two charities in La Marina,all that has happened is to cause aggravation and upset to many people.It is time to remind people that everyone is innocent until proven guilty,with that in mind I ask the admin of this sight to keep an eye on the comments made here,It is necessary at times to delete comments,not because you dont agreee with them,but because they may be libellous
Of course if people can prove what they write that is a a different ball game
We will not find out the whole truth on this matter,but what it will do is hurt the charities,as it will make people think before donating if their money is going to a charity or into someones pocket.
So I ask people of La Marina forget what you have read,and dont stop donating to these charities,thay are all worthwhile.
It seems to be a sad fact of life that anyone who puts themselves out to be involved with a charity, for whatever cause, must,according to some people, be on the fiddle. If they themselves would not do anything for nothing, they should not assume everyone is the same. We are not all money orientated on this urbanisation. I am sure this attitude stops a lot of people from volunteering to do things for Charities.
Having read the statement by Peter I am surprised that this had not been done before. If you know that rumours going around are completely false then someone concerned should put the record straight before it gets out of hand.
As everyone knows, it's my mother Christine who runs impact charity along with the committee. I've got one point to make and I'm going to make it as clear as possible. Lucy you started this off about the charities so have the decency to reply and at least clarify what charity you are on about. It isn't a game when this can affect the charities being spoken about and especially EMAUS children's homes when your talking and making accusations of this kind. So step forward Lucy and speak up please.
Jaytee I think Pauline has already done this once, how many times does she have to justify herself.
Hi Jaytee,
Many thanks for your reply. Just to explain, many of the things that we had previously heard were aimed at Pauline (my wife) and myself (we had "said this" or "done that"), and we decided to let them go (even though Pauline did, as Eve mentioned, once respond to something that was said to her), as we didn't want to add "fuel to the fire" as is often the case, when you try to defend yourself. We were hoping that by ignoring what we had heard, things would eventually calm down and go away. Unfortunately, the comment about the ex-treasurer, that drew my reply was so incorrect (even libellous/slanderous) that it needed addressing. I sincerely hope that this sees the end to all these horrible "Chinese Whispers" and that everyone involved in helping those less fortunate than us (both 2 legged and 4 legged) can get on with the job of raising much needed funds for all these worthy causes.
ANDI
I do not see why you feel that Lucy who started this post needs to say any more on the matter she said that she did not know what charity people were talking about and I feel has done the right thing in helping to clear up the situation
Well no situation has been cleared up really has it. Why didn't she use her common sense and go into theses shops ask to speak to someone privately and clear it up that way. That's like me saying ummm there's many groups out there with no charity numbers collecting donations and paying no taxes on money coming into there groups. That's not my problem and if I had a problem with that myself is approach these people but it's all being done for the good. There's things you bring to people's attention and then there's things you do the right way and that wasn't. All I was asking is why hasn't Lucy commented on anything since and said something like thank you for clearing that up for me.
I can understand where Andi is coming from.
FirstlyLucy is quite unknown to the comments section of this forum.The words she used didnt say Impact Charity,but near the grey Area,charity shop and her fondness of childrens charity.could only mean Impact Charity,but for some reason she wouldnt actually name it.
I read her comment early this morning,and wrote one of my own askingv for it to be deleted,At approx. the same time a letter from Christine of Impact Charity was printed.In a further letter Impact wrote thanking me Christine asked for it not to be deleted as she felt it needed to come into the open,I immediately deleted my original comment, and replaced it with a watered down down one given my total support to Impact Charity and its workers
Thank you to Christine who has completely satisfied my query, I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble, I know feel dreadfully guilty about starting this line of conversation, as I have said I am new to this forum, however it does appear that it has been on the minds of a few people & I can only hope that anyone else reading this will also be satisfied & continue as I will to support this charity, which as I said I am now completely satisfied this particular organisation is managing the funds correctly, In answer to Andi I have been visiting a sick friend which explains why I haven’t had time to comment recently, however when I do get time I will call into the shop to introduce myself, I can only hope this puts the record straight & we can all get on in this wonderful town of ours
Lucy x x
Lucy.
Regarding the comment. Impact charity and the shop will always keep going. The only thing Im slightly concerned with is the charity/ groups we support. Them being EMAUS, Finca Lucendum and PAWS as there funding is determined by income that is generated by the shop and what problems this may cause them with comments being thrown around the URB. I want to make this clear to everyone, if you have any problems or are concerned with funds then pop into the shop along with your NIE number and your address and your more than welcome to have a look at the charities accounts along with the secretary, treasurer and myself. You are not harming the shops reputation all it will do is harm the charity/group we support with funding.
Can you explain why you would only show your records to someone who had an NIE number and gave you their address
The reason we will ask for your NIE number or to be more exact proof of Identification is, so we know exactly who you are. I think you will find all charities accounts should be open to view and all will ask for some form of identification.
To answer the question about a website. Yes we did have one but, it was costing the charity a lot of money to run. It was decided we would stop using it. As it was found word of mouth through customers of the shop and advertising in local mags was deemed sufficient enough for advertising and letting people know what and who we support.
Christine.
So the website I have posted is not yours?
If not can you give me some information as to who you are please, are you registered in Spain or the U.K
P.S You say that your website was costing a lot to run but I am sure this could not be very expansive, it it is yours
Yes that is the correct website. A fee was paid upfront and impact charity own the domain name.
We also were paying a fee very three months for this.
To answer the question to registration. Yes we are a registered charity. Please do not take this the wrong way but if you would like to know more please pop into the shop and ask for myself ( Christine). Words are always taken out of context and it would be nice to put some faces to names.
Christine
I am not back in Spain until the summer so can not pop in, so I still have the same question as to where you are registered?
Lucy thank you for putting this comment on. Let me state a few things on this subject. First thing, we are a registered charity that has a registered accountant and solicitor on this urb. We do not use any member of staff that deal the the official accounts. We have a treasurer who prepares all the shops receipts and bills and an account of what has been taken in shop. These are directly passed onto the accountant (ACOSTA & PEDRERO). From Januray 2011 till December 2011 impact charity handed out €11.000 euros in donations to groups. Every month we have a minimum of €700 euros to find to keep the shop open and running.
As for volunteers in the shop. Some are leaving due to I'll health or returning to the UK. I will not hide the fact over the past 8 months volunteers have been asked to stop working in the shop. Impact charity is to abide by a Spanish constitution just like any other registered charity we also have shop policies that are in place for volunteers to follow. Some volunteers have decided to break these policies and do as they please. My responsibility is to make sure impact charity is run correctly and we keep offering the support we do to the groups we support. Although we are a charity it is run like a business because if impact charity closes or stops them it affects the groups we are supporting. I understand people volunteer and give up there time to work in the shop but the charity is guided by a constitution and policies and they have to be followed.
As for the charities regular account we have a healthy balance of over €4.500. People may find this a high amount but we have the up keeping of the shop to continue and more often than not the charity finds itself paying out more in donation than funds coming in.
I hope this answers what you want to know. I believe that if you keep it open and honest then there is no problems. You will always hear things and people talking about things. It's a way of life for some people in la marina.
If you want To find out more please pop into the shop and ask myself, Christine, and if you would like to come in Lucy and take a look over the accounts then your more than welcome
Christine (president of impact charity association)