Establishment
and Status of Grenada Disaster Relief Fund, New York
Following
the occurrence of one of Grenada’s worst natural disasters
- Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, Grenadians in New York
were mobilized under the direction of then Ambassador Lamuel
Stanislaus and Consul General Janice Celestine to consider
ways in which we could assist the homeland.
At
that gathering a volunteer organization was formed and a committee
elected named the Grenada Disaster Relief Committee. The committee
comprised Grenadians willing to volunteer time and effort
to spearhead the relief effort. Its mission was to raise funds
and relief supplies to assist the people of Grenada in their
time of dire need.
The
committee took this urgent task seriously and with the help
of hundreds of Grenadian, Caribbean and other people were
able to mobilize several tons of food, clothing, medical supplies
and cash. It was decided by the committee that rather than
starting a new bank account, it would be acceptable to deliver
all donated monies to the Grenada Mission for safekeeping,
so the committee (GDRC) did its own bookkeeping but had no
custody of the funds, and once deposited, had no authorization
to make withdrawals. Whenever the committee incurred expenses
such as freight charges to ship containers, it would draft
and submit a request by voucher, and a check for the exact
amount requested would be made payable on its behalf directly
to the vendor. This system assured transparency, credibility
and ease of administration. The fact that GDRC was not in
direct control of the donated funds never was cause for concern
to its members, and utmost confidence was placed in the existing
arrangements.
The
Consul General assisted with the deposits and acknowledgement
of donations up until she proceeded on vacation leave on November
1, 2004. The Ambassador and Consul General signed and issued
all checks, as requested by the Committee, up until October
31, 2004 when the Ambassador demitted office.
How
was the money to be spent?
The
GDRC at one of its first meetings agreed that all decisions
regarding the disbursement of funds would be approved by its
Steering Committee and vouchers submitted to the Mission by
the Chairperson of the Finance Committee for issuance of checks.
The Committee also decided that all funds received would be
used for specific programmes and projects, to be identified
following consultation and dialogue with Government officials,
and that whatever programmes are chosen should benefit the
most needy and vulnerable citizens in Grenada, Carriacou and
Petite Martinique. The majority of funds on the account came
from fund raising activities organized and sanctioned by the
committee, solicitation by committee members to businesses,
friends, co-workers, families and the wider US community.
How
was the money actually spent?
The
attached balance sheet accounts for all monies that GDRC collected.
Detail of all expenditure is included. It was the committee’s
policy to limit expenditure to mandatory costs such as freight.
The committee considered it important that every dollar be
used wisely to bring maximum benefit to needy people in Grenada,
Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Committee members were mandated
to use their own resources to provide transportation, phone
service including international, tolls, meals etc when on
committee business. As stated in the attached
financial statement, the final available balance
on the account after expenses was US$183,237.76.
Where
is the balance of money?
•
After the change of senior personnel at the Mission,
communication and cooperation became increasingly challenging,
despite the kind assistance of the staff. On January
14th 2005, the GDRC
wrote to the Ambassador Rouse (Read letter)
answering questions about the GDRC in response to a
request for said information. This is information that
was previously established and known, nonetheless the
letter was done. |
•
As time progressed, communication became even more difficult
and the GDRC found itself in an estranged relationship
with the Mission. The GDRC no longer had access to the
funds and explanations were vague and sometimes contradictory.
At that time GDRC owed at least one vendor Midas Shipping,
and was unable to pay because of an unexplained hold
on the funds. |
|
•
On March 9th, 2005, again after several enquiries, the
GDRC was told that remaining monies were to be forwarded
to Grenada, through a second
letter from Amd Rouse.. To date, the GDRC
has never been granted the courtesy of a confirmation
or report as to how the funds were disposed of. |
For
reference here is the GDRC’s account information:
Account
# 292 609 266 065
Grenada Disaster Fund
Chase Manhattan Bank
United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
|
