Act of kindness gone south? Generous community learns hard lesson
By Dickson Igwe, Contributor
A community coming together to aid one stricken by personal financial crisis is admirable. However, that assistance must come with safeguards for those who contribute their cash.
There are caveats when assisting persons in need. A very personal matter involving the repossession of a home by a bank has rocked the Virgin Islands, in recent days. What transformed the matter into a scandal was the manner many thousands of dollars of assistance to the financially burdened individual was handled.
The individual is also a well-known talk show host on a popular Virgin Islands radio show. Now, cash personally handed over to the individual from monies donated to clear his debt and save his home was indeed very unwise.
There was no check in place. In essence, it was throwing money into thin air and hoping it fulfills the intended purpose. There appears to have been no discussion with the bank on whether or not the bank would accept the public effort in saving the home from repossession. Then, whether or not the money goes for the purpose intended and the home thereby saved from repossession is beside the point.
The project was charity even though informally managed by media personalities. There were no safeguards and checks on the scheme. This writer doubts cash donated will be for the purpose intended to pay the bank’s debt, or ever refunded back to those who gave generously to assist the man.
The story is that the bank is continuing with the repossession process. Charities adopt a culture of transparency and accountability that helps prevent fraud or deception. The money, if transferred to a third party charity to manage on the man’s behalf would have protected the cash of community minded people with the good intention of acting compassionately.
The lesson for the community is not to fall for any scheme to aid individuals outside the orbit of an established charity that possesses the required culture of honesty, transparency and accountability or at the very least a trusted and established organization known for its charitable activities.
It may well be a miracle if the cash in this matter ever returns to the good men and women who assisted this man. The money would have been better spent on the truly poor and needy who always need a helping hand.
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Just pay off your debt at bank sir, even if it’s not enough to save it outright still give it to the bank.
If the right thing is done, maybe the community can buy you the house outright!
But with you acting desperate and stingy no one will come and help. If you needed say 250k to own the property why not ask for the right amount?
Why did you find the need to write this article? You just had to get your 2 cents in…didn’t you? Couldn’t resist the swamp.
This is your worst article imo. You are capable of writing worthy articles above tabloid. Do better.
Them three th**f needs to be jailed they worse that Andrew
Was this article really necessary? I think not.
What kind of test was cynder box and hermitage putting dynamite under.
They are all sargasso werds hoping to see how many fishes could be killed during the collection Dihonesty to its fullest all of dem look bar friends protect each other not throwbyou under the bus but this is BVI mentality
The correct thing to do was to pay the money directly to the account unless was someone trustworthy appointed to manages the funds and ensure it goes directly towards the house. If he received so much money, why doesn’t he go in and negotiate and pay the bank. It is obvious he had some discussion with the bank so it was taken off the market. But obviously there was no payment, so the bank put it back on the market.
It is a community matter: the man warns us all not to be stupid