Disaster relief? Dealing with Oklahoma City bombing fund 'horrible,' victim says

A group of survivors and relatives of those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing are outraged that there is $10 million sitting in a disaster relief fund designed to help them. Meanwhile they say they’ve been denied help for years.

A year after the bombing, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation was entrusted with $14.5 million in donated money from sympathetic individuals and religious groups around the world. The money was put into a newly established Oklahoma City Disaster Relief Fund.

Then-Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating mandated that the fund be used to help with the long-term health care needs of survivors and scholarships for children who lost a parent in the blast.

In 2005, then-11-year-old Allen needed major surgery on his trachea. Watson, who became his sole guardian after the bombing, said the Oklahoma City Community Foundation refused to pay for the surgery directly, instead steering her toward Medicaid to cover the cost.

Gloria Chipman, lost her husband in the bombing. She said that though her son was given tuition money for college, her daughter was told by the foundation that her grades were not good enough for financial aid.

Falesha Joyner lost an ear in the explosion. She said she just wants contact lenses because without an ear, her glasses will not stay on.

When Tim Hearn's mother was killed in the bombing, he left school to raise his siblings. Last year he was denied tuition money for trade school, he said, because the Oklahoma City Community Foundation told him he was too old.

Angry survivors were stunned when they recently learned there is still more than $10 million in the fund.

Adding insult to injury, in 2005 the Oklahoma City Community Foundation decided to reallocate nearly $4.5 million away from the survivors to a variety of causes including the Oklahoma City National Memorial, other communities hit by disasters and future research on disaster relief.

“They decided to give $4.4 million away, and we're on welfare…. I can't even imagine that,” said Watson.

Anthony said that she and her colleagues have been good stewards of the money, and that is why, with interest earned on investments, there is $10 million currently in the fund. By preserving the fund, she said the foundation has ensured that there will be money to take care of survivors in need for many years to come.

Attorney Ken Feinberg, who handled the distribution of billions of dollars for victims of 9/11, the BP oil spill, and the Virginia Tech and Aurora movie theater shootings, said taking a paternalistic approach is the worst thing you can do.

“All the words in the world are no substitute for getting the money out the door…. Do not attempt to restrict how the funds will be used. Do not attempt to educate or explain. ‘Here's the money -- it's yours,’” he said.

When asked how he would handle the donated funds for the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, Feinberg said he would determine who is eligible to receive money and how much, and distribute it within 60 days without restriction and then close the program.

Anthony said her hands are tied. She said the foundation is bound by IRS restrictions and her duty to the donors.

“We have limitations. We can't always do what [the survivors] want us to do. And I think that there needs to be a little bit of respect for trying to understand what the donors wanted. And I don't think you can say that everyone donated money for a specific thing,” she said.

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Let me start by saying that my family was personally affected by the OKC bombing. My mother was working across the street at the Southwesten Bell Telephone Company where several were injured by the shock wave delivered by the blast. Our family car was badly damaged due to being parked in the Journal Record Building that took a huge hit as well. I was in 10th grade at the time, and remember being called to the office as one of the kids whose parents worked downtown. We sat for hours as one by one, the parents got through to let the kids know they were ok.

By the end of the day, my call still had not come.

I went home to my sister and aunt as we waited for any news of my mother. It was late afternoon before a taxi pulled up out front and we knew my mother was alive and had been working after the bombing to get communications up for the rescue workers. It was a terrible day that I will never forget. I cannot imagine what these poor people went through with never getting to see their loved ones again, and now to have this crap happening to them.

It sounds like to me this Anthony lady is trying to keep some job security by keeping the fund open and handing out a little here and a little there. What say you ATS? What can be done about this?

~OkieDokie

Star and flagged from liejunkie.

I do not donate to the disaster funds.

If I donate it is to the red cross, or some other organization who actually has boots on the ground. Not stockholders at desks.

These people only care about the money in the bank, not the people who can benefit from it.

Where did all of that Haiti relief money go, what about the 911 money.

Rich fat cats decides who gets that money and it isn't the people who need it.

I do not donate my blood sweat and tear money to money manager funds. You shouldn't either.

reply to post by liejunkie01


I completely agree with you. I normally donate my time, rather than money, to immediate disaster relief, and that is normally through the Red Cross and Medical Reserve Corp.

This agency was actually mandated by the governor to help with medical needs and scholarships for those affected. Its not like it was just some fly by night fund set up to swindle folks, but that looks like what it is turning out to be.

~OkieDokie

Originally posted by OkieDokie
It sounds like to me this Anthony lady is trying to keep some job security by keeping the fund open ...

I think thats pretty much it.
If they succeed in distributing the money, the project finishes and they're out of a job.

reply to post by alfa1


On that note, I found an article from Nov. 2012 that reported that they are under audit for allegations of trustees being paid out of the fund.

Steven Davis, the Chairman of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, said he would discuss the upcoming audit and clear up if trustees are paid. But he and the organization's spokesperson were adamant about not addressing any of the other recent allegations. When asked if he was going to talk about any of the other issues, such as the allegations made by the bombing victims and the money paid for salaries, Davis said he didn't want to address any of that.
Davis was referring to the head of the Better Business Bureau who told News 9 it appeared from the Disaster Fund's tax form that trustees are paid. Davis said they are not.

It also goes on the reveal that Ms. Anthony is earning a salary of $232,000

Tax records show Nancy Anthony, who is the president of the OCCF, does receive a yearly salary of $232,000.
"I believe she is a trustee of that fund," said Davis. "She is not paid in conjunction with that fund, she is paid out of the overall fund."

Link

Now we wouldn't want her to lose her $232k/ year now would we?

She speaks about the fund in this article and goes on to relate the victims of the OKC Bombing to heroin addicts.

"The perception of people unfortunately is that you need to give people money and that money will make them feel better," said Nancy Anthony, executive director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, the city's umbrella charity. "Well, it probably does make them feel better. But heroin makes them feel better for a short time too. . . . But it's the services that really help them go forward. - See more at: www.chicagotribune.com... n_ids=10151267917665419&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582#sthash.lr8sxzxo.dpuf- See more at: www.chicagotribune.com... n_ids=10151267917665419&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582#sthash.lr8sxzxo.dpuf

The statement admittedly does go on, but that was just about all I needed to know. The link provides the rest in context

~OkieDokie

What can be done, is you can contact the State Attorney General's office and ask them to look into the situation, use your OP article as the need for a look see. Here in Missouri the AG is very responsive to citizen inquiry or complaints.

reply to post by OkieDokie

It sounds like to me this Anthony lady is trying to keep some job security by keeping the fund open and handing out a little here and a little there. What say you ATS? What can be done about this?

You saved me the bother of typing it mate.

Hit the nail on the head...the money goes in 60 days - her and her team are out on their ears in 61 days.

All the while, the people who the money was intended for, have to beg for what is theirs, often it seens to be told they don't deserve it, by this cow of a woman.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by OkieDokie
It sounds like to me this Anthony lady is trying to keep some job security by keeping the fund open ...

I think thats pretty much it.
If they succeed in distributing the money, the project finishes and they're out of a job.

It could go deeper than that. There may be nothing there. The fund managers could have pulled a Bernie with all those excuses they are giving. The excuse against getting that one woman a replacement ear is one of those red flags that there are snakes involved.

An alternative explanation is that they are Oklahomans, and the explosive event that had happened was an attempt to get rid of some of the most backwards people in the US. They could have ten million dollars and still ignore their responsibility.

It is a good point that there are disaster fund managers out there looking for a disaster to get them a job. It would profit them to cause one. Dangerous!