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Project Joy was the most fulfilling thing I've ever done at work. Now it's the most heartbreaking.
Eight years ago, I was looking for a way to help kids who were getting overlooked at Christmas. I ended up meeting some folks with the Mecklenburg County Youth and Family Services, part of the Department of Social Services. They told me how some foster children fell through the cracks of most charity programs. So I partnered with them to start Project Joy.
Every holiday season I asked readers to help, and every time you gave beyond my imagination. I met people who pulled up with a truckload of new bikes, and people who pushed a dollar or two into my hands.
Project Joy was one of several charity drives under the county's Giving Tree program. Over the years, Project Joy alone collected more than $430,000 - some of that in direct gifts such as toys and clothes, the rest in cash earmarked to buy more gifts.
This past March, while I was up in Boston on a fellowship, I got a call from the Observer. The paper had found out that DSS employees were suspected of taking money from the Giving Tree program. I sank down in a chair and stared at the wall. I still have a hard time believing it.
Eight months later, it's still not clear what happened. The only thing I can say for sure is that the way DSS handled its money - including the money that I, and so many of you, donated - was a nightmare.
What's at issue is $162,000 in donations. The county has receipts for most of that amount, but many of them have been altered in some way.
The county had been saying the rest of the money was missing. But just last week, Cornita Spears - the county's internal audit director - revealed that a DSS employee had returned $33,000 months ago, and somehow the audit didn't catch it. (The county announced Friday that Spears is being replaced.)
The county, as well as the police, are investigating what happened. It's clear that at least part of the investigation involves Cindy Brady, a DSS supervisor who retired Aug. 1. Cindy was my closest contact on Project Joy. I liked her, believed in her and trusted her. But she won't tell the public her side of the story.
I've followed the news accounts, read through documents, talked (or tried to talk) to some of the people involved. And I still don't know who, or what, to believe. I wish I could tell all of you who donated that your money went exactly where it was supposed to go - to the kids.
I can't say that for sure.
Until I know what happened, I can't ask you to donate to Project Joy again. I hope sometime soon to point folks toward a couple of places that do good work for kids at Christmas. But I'll check them out thoroughly first. One of the reasons I decided to work with the county is that it had an accounting system in place and was answerable to the public. In this case, that wasn't enough.
I apologize for what happened, and at the same time I hope you'll give your money or time to someone in need at the holidays. I know all this might make it harder for you to trust. It sure is harder for me.
