Why won’t charity hand over money?

A BUCKIE family have issued a heartfelt plea for money raised by the local community for their 10-year-old son to be released by the charity they say is holding the cash. In September 2017, Cumbernauld-based charity Bumblebee Babies held a fundraiser at the Buckie Tesco store for Adam Smith, then aged eight, who has the rare genetic disorder Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), symptoms of which include hypermobility of his joints, pain, tiredness and anxiety. The fundraiser was for a measured-to-fit car seat which would give Adam more support and make road journeys more comfortable. The £1200 raised was not quite enough to buy the seat, but it was handed over to Bumblebee Babies by Tesco. As it was a targeted appeal for a named individual, the fundraiser was classed as a failed appeal. However, the regulations governing this type of situation state that, following a discussion with the charity concerned, the money can be used for another purpose providing it is for the sole benefit of the person named. But according to Adam’s dad Kevin, the charity has gone silent and still have the cash raised by the Buckie community for the schoolboy. He told the Advertiser: “We went to Tesco in February 2018 and they said they’d paid the cash to Bumblebee Babies in December, although it wasn’t enough to pay for the car seat. “It was after that that Bumblebee Babies basically stopped speaking to us, they’ve blanked us. “In April last year my wife Anne was very ill with the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis and at one stage was given 24 hours to live. This really affected Adam and we went to Tesco to ask if they were OK with us taking Adam on holiday to Legoland. “They told us that using the money for something other than the car
seat was fine, as long as it was for Adam. But Bumblebee Babies have said they won’t release the money for the trip, that it’s only for the car seat.” Mr Smith said the family were initially introduced to the charity’s boss Brenda Murray while on holiday at a caravan site in Saltcoats, Ayrshire. He said she went on to offer to fund-raise for Adam.

For full story see Banffshire Advertiser 23rd July 2019