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State Issues Warning on Hume Charity
The state recently warned Virginia residents about making contributions to the Journey For the Cure Foundation, which is based in Hume.
According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the foundation has solicited contributions from Virginia citizens for “allegedly charitable purposes.”
As of May 13, however, the foundation had failed to comply with a law that requires any group that solicits for charitable purposes in Virginia to register with the VDACS, according to the agency.
Moreover, the foundation hasn't received the proper exemption status from the VDACS commissioner.
Consequently, the agency is alerting Virginians that contributions to the foundation could be used for “non-charitable purposes.”
Mike Wright is the manager of regulatory programs for VDACS Office of Consumer Affairs. He said the agency began to investigate the Journey For the Cure Foundation after a consumer asked about the organization last March.
VDACS notified the foundation it was required to register with the agency in order to raise money for charity.
The foundation did submit a registration form in October. But Journey For the Cure didn't submit the required paperwork to go along with it, according to Wright. Specifically, the foundation failed to provide its financial records, bylaws, information about any fundraising contracts and related materials, Wright said.
After requesting the information several times, Wright said he finally notified Tareq Salahi of Oasis Vineyards and other people who appeared to be on the foundation's board via e-mail on April 20 that the organization was not registered to solicit in Virginia. He informed the recipients in the e-mail that a warning letter would be written against the foundation.
Most organizations comply once a warning has been issued. Failure to register can result in civil or criminal penalties, Wright said. Perpetrators can face civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
Salahi, who is on the foundation's board of directors, was apparently traveling overseas early this week and could not be reached for comment on the state's allegations.
No one could be reached Monday at a phone number listed as a point of contact for the foundation.
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story...
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