Recently Eddie Reynoso, former Hillcrest Business Association board member, took to his Facebook page to accuse me of mismanagement of the scholarship money from Hillcrest Mardi Gras. In the ultimate act of cowardice, Reynoso made accusations that he hoped I would not see since he did not tag me in his post.
Reynoso asks, “When will all the scholarships be jointly presented by the GSDBA Foundation (an organization for scholarships you control) and the HBA the organization that last year donated $10,000 to the scholarship foundation”? What concerns me is I think Reynoso believes that the HBA wrote a check to the GSDBA Charitable Foundation for $10,000, or worse the HBA recorded a check for that amount and sent the Foundation something completely different. Hmm.
The proceeds from the 2014 Hillcrest Mardi Gras were $2,254.15 to be split between the HBA and the GSDBA Charitable Foundation. The HBA generously gave their portion of the proceeds to the scholarship fund. Mr. Reynoso, I have the cancelled check, please send me the remaining $7,745.85. Someone at the HBA must have made a big error; can you please help me resolve the discrepancy since you are so knowledgeable?
Reynoso also asked when the scholarships will be presented, the implication that the Charitable Foundation is hoarding funds and not distributing scholarships. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In 2013, when the HBA pulled out of Mardi Gras because they were trying to tank the event and embarrass me, the Charitable Foundation moved forward and put the event on in less than six weeks with the generous support of Bill Hardt, who puts on the legendary Pride parties. In spite of significantly increased expenses due to HBA’s last minute pull out, and frigid temperatures, the 2013 event raised $3,000; more than the HBA was able to raise with lower expenses and a five month lead time in 2014. In 2012, the last year before HBA’s attempts to undermine Mardi Gras and when both organizations put on the event, Mardi Gras raised over $28,500. That’s right, $28,500. I guess HBA did achieve their goal of tanking the event. I’ll let you know what the 2015 event generated for scholarships as soon as the HBA tells me.
The reason no scholarships were issued in 2013 was because the GSDBA Charitable Foundation reserved money to put on the 2014 event. Ultimately, the HBA realized that their plan to undermine the event had failed and they came with their tail between their legs to get the event back. The Charitable Foundation agreed to allow the HBA to run the event, under one condition, the Charitable Foundation would get half the proceeds, in perpetuity. The HBA anxiously agreed and the agreement was finalized in September of 2013.
By the time of the agreement, the 2013/14 school year had started and the GSDBA Charitable Foundation decided to wait for proceeds from the 2014 event to issue the maximum scholarships. The HBA did not send the check for the proceeds of the February event until July 2014, when most students were on break. Why did it take the HBA 120 days to reconcile the proceeds from Mardi Gras? The HBA was afraid I would write about how little they generated from their new, improved event. I didn’t until Mr. Reynoso decided to malign my character.
Why not issue scholarships once the school year started in September of 2014? The Charitable Foundation did not want to put any students at financial risk. A student is required to report all of his scholarship information to the financial aid office, failure to do so can put a student’s aid at risk.
The Charitable Foundation has learned its lesson and will be calling for scholarship applications this month. Last month, the GSDBA and the GSDBA Charitable Foundation announced a strategic alliance to grow the scholarship fund. The GSDBA has already held an event that has generated money for the scholarship fund.
Finally Mr. Reynoso, the HBA will be notified of the location when this year’s scholarships will be awarded. We will make sure that the HBA is there to take credit for the $2,254.15 in scholarships they generated. All other scholarships funds were generated by the efforts of the Charitable Foundation, sorry.
