Colorado Springs restaurants, breweries hesitate to give money raised to Colorado Healing Fund
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Some donors are questioning whether or not to give money to the Colorado Healing Fund (CHF) after discovering 90% of the proceeds go toward victims.
The CHF was founded in 2018 and has since been activated numerous times when Colorado experienced devastating tragedies and life losses, like the Marshall Fire, the Boulder King Soopers Shooting, and most recently the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs.
A week after the deadly attack, a multi-brewery fundraiser was held in Colorado Springs to raise money to go to this fund to support the victims. While it was a success, some of the participants are now unsure of where to give what was raised.
Tepex Mexican Cuisine owner Fernando Trancoso was instrumental in getting the three restaurants on board at the brewery fundraiser. They raised over $5,000 just on the restaurant side, not including any of the brewery donations collected.
After survivors from other mass shootings told people not to donate to CHF, Fernando said they plan on holding onto the money until they can find an organization that gives 100% of donations to victims.
Fernando said the organizers feel somewhat misled. Donations to CHF go through other nonprofits and organizations are to be dispersed, followed by a 10% fee for admin costs.
Monday, 13 Investigates spoke with the CHF's Executive Director, Jordan Finegan. He said currently, the healing fund received $1.8 million in donations for the victims of Club Q so far. Right now, $245,000 of that money is approved to spend on victims. However, Finegan said more funds will be authorized in the coming days. That money is going towards direct cash disbursement and travel or lodging costs for victims' families not in the Colorado Springs area.
Finegan said that they're working directly with victim's advocates that are in communication with Club Q survivors and the victim's families to better understand how the money needs to be spent.
Fernando said another option would be establishing a centralized victims fund.
"That would be a great idea for what we're trying to do here," Trancoso said. "It's just a matter of finding the right people and I think we have volunteers and people willing to put in some effort and time. I'd be all for it."
The centralized fund would be volunteer-based, led by a local steering committee in the community. But must be initiated by a government leader, such as a governor or mayor.
13 Investigates asked Finegan why the Colorado Healing Fund can't serve as a centralized victims fund and provide 100% of the charity donations for Club Q directly to the victims.
"I don't know all the dynamics of how a centralized victim's fund is set up in terms of how they're talking about it. I would need to do more research on it. The benefits of the Colorado Healing Fund, though, are that we are already in existence. We have been here since 2018. We are ready for when a mass tragedy happens. When funds come in to us, we honor the donor's intent," Finegan said.
