I believe that the previous comments are grounds for liable and I am forwarding this post to Mr. Wayne Kennon, who Ms. Gray indicates is the attorney for this foundation. I believe that there is more to the story and I also believe that once that is uncovered, Ms. Gray will be required to retract these statement. Finally, I do not believe that anyone can "force" anyone to do anything.
I became a widow in 2010 and I put my home for sale in May 2011. Initially I was contacted by Dr. Linda Sue Warner of Hope 4 Today asking if I wanted to donate my real estate and I declined indicated my financial position prohibited such as I was a widow and this was my future income.
I was then contacted by George Briscoe Chairman of the board for 501 c Not for Profit Hope 4 Today at hope-for-today.org who came to see my real estate in person with his wife Elizabeth and son and a young veteran Ray who is according to George used by the foundation for grants from the VA to the foundation.
In this meeting as well as written correspondence Mr Briscoe indicated the foundation wanted to make my farm the national headquarters for the foundation moving it from Chesterfield, MO. He affirmed the beauty of the farm and said the foundation wanted my beautiful farm for a kids camp and children's literacy. He indicated he understood my love for the farm and that I would not loose the farm I would sign it over to the foundation who would have the federal funding resources to make all the improvements that needed made and I could enjoy it at my leisure and not have the work of maintaining it.
Having lost my husband only the year before I felt that the farm going to the good of children would be something my husband would be happy with and I knowing I needed income the foundation provided a letter of intent offering me a lease option for 1 yr. I accepted it as the foundation said they were awaiting their federal funding and would then pay off the farm once they received the funding and begin making all the millions of dollars in improvements.
However the lease terms later were revealed were unacceptable and I declined their offer again.
Then Mr. Briscoe requested he met with me personally and in Sept 2011 he offered the following on the terms I donate my farm to the Hope 4 Today foundation;
In lieu of the donation I was to receive a 3 yr employment contract from Hope 4 Today and a position with the foundation. My 2 daughters were also offered employment. My contract terms included wages, living and vehicle expense of 60,000 per year tax paid and health insurance. I was also promised a new home to be built on Mr. Briscoe's beautiful farm in Miami which I and my daughter visited and he showed me the home he would have the foundation provide which I accepted.
On the second meeting with Mr. Briscoe in Oct 2011 he agreed to hire my 3rd daughter for 10,000.00 per year for 3 years and increase my daughter Jennifer's pay to 30,000.00 per year for 3 years. These terms were accepted.
For 3 years; Jacquelyn was to receive $30,000.00 salary with health insurance as the foundations travel agent, Jennifer was to originally receive $10,000.00 as foundation photographer subcontractor salary which changed to a $30,000.00 verbal contract for web designer
salary, and Jessica was offered a 10,000.00 per year photographer subcontractor position verbal contract.
In addition to employment contracts I was offered a verbal agreement from George Brisco who as chairmen offered me 50% partnership and lifetime income on every project the foundation does in OK, KS, MO of which George gave many details about numerous multi-million dollar projects in St. Louis and Kansas City the foundation was part of for VPM Management which I gladly accepted the terms of his offer and verbal agreement at this meeting.
I initially was requested to donate my husbands truck a 1 ton 1996 Ford flat bed and I declined. Then Mr Briscoe said there was an investor, "John Thomas" in New Mexico who needed to see I was serious about the farms donation. George assured me I could have access to the truck anytime I needed it. I signed the truck over as required around early Oct 2011.
That investor never materialized and my truck was never returned and I did not bring it up to Mr. Briscoe because I supposedly had use of it whenever I needed it.
Then I was required to release by quit claim my real estate which after the employment contracts were executed I signed over by quit claim to Mr. Briscoe in late Oct 2011 and the foundation registered it in Jan 2012.
In around Jan 2012 my 3 horses which I did not donate were moved from my farm as I was promised by Mr. Briscoe it was to take care of them. I was promised I always had access to the horses and the farm and I could use any time.
The horses were moved to a location I was told by Mr. Briscoe to the Miami, OK area.
On my farm was a semi trailer of personal items which George agreed to move to his farm for me so I could unload as it contains my husbands personal effects. George advised me in April 2012 I needed to unlock the trailer to prove the contents and I agreed to but no apt was ever
scheduled.
I contacted his assistant in Justin in July 2012 who said he could not get a truck to move the trailer.
In May 2012 I was advised the quit claim deed was not legal and I needed to sign again the real estate over which I did and the property closed to a "new investor". George said the buyers were going to be paid once the foundation had its federal funding a 30,000.00 profit for paying it off now and preventing foreclosure as the real estate was in foreclosure.
I was promised every month the foundation "soon would be able to make payroll" and by June the foundation would be able to do so.
AS of July 2012 George Briscoe not only no longer takes my calls his last response from his secretary was for me to contact their attorney Mr. Wayne Kennon of Miami and that they "would gladly see me in court".
In addition to all today Aug 28th, 2012 I found out that the new owners of the farm who called me, Larry at 402.617.4885 won't permit me to take my belongings off the farm because the contract between he and George was only 2 trailers were to be moved, which were to be removed in 15 days from the closing which I was never advised of as well, and was not done. Larry says calls my semi trailer and its contents "abandoned property" and I am not permitted to remove it.
Of course I have no money to pursue them and they know it which is apparently how they operate.
I have been bilked out of my home and farm which George promised me I would always be able to enjoy as the foundation would care for it. We have defaulted employment contracts from a foundation who hides what it is behind the cloak pf a 501c.
Additionally I was informed by "Larry" that I am not allowed on my former property. The farm was donated for children's literacy, it is clear this is just more lies which it is not being used for.
There are more issues such as dozens of large round bales of hay hay taken and not compensated for, and thousands of dollars in inventory I left on the farm I was not ever advised I had to move and was told such would be used by the foundation, instead I now discover the new owners are using and in possession of which I was not compensated for.
Part of the outrageous conduct in all of this is the fact that in addition to all of this I recently found out that the 70,000.00 state tax lien on my farm was released for $200.00. Why is that a problem? Because Mr. Briscoe indicated the total payoff was $260,000.00 which included a $70,000.00 tax lien. However the state only released a partial lien and I am still liable for the balance which was not the condition I agreed to as I was to be free and clear of all liens and tax liability as part of the condition of the donation which the pay off was 70,000 and this was made very clear to Mr. Briscoe and he assured me it would occur.
In all of this I lost all my equity as they sold the real estate for the balance of the liens which I could have done myself but had no reason to as i HAD EQUITY IN MY REAL ESTATE.
According to Mr. Briscoe the foundation has had its Dept of Education multi-million dollar grant approved but not released. I would have continued to wait for my wages though I have been reduced now to food stamps and applying for disability as I can not work having an unusable right arm and being right handed because since April 2012 I have torn rotator cuff and I need surgery. I can not work for anyone else other than the position I was to have with the foundation as I was to have insurance provided since Jan but the foundation has defaulted on health insurance so I now suffering physically, mentally, financially and emotionally as a direct result of the actions of Hope 4 Today and its board of directors.
"Larry" the now owner of my farm informed me that George wanted him to sign a petition that would take an $11,000.00 insurance check I got from my homeowners insurance for roof damages from last years f-5 Joplin tornado when I owned the real estate but he said he refused to do so it appears they were as it appears George Briscoe was also trying to bilk me out of that as well.....and so it continues.
Despite the fact that the foundation will do its level best to invest in lawyers now to fight the truth from being heard instead of honoring the contracts it provided the facts are now out as freedom of speech is a 1st amendment right. The MO Attorney Generals office is launching an investigation upon hearing the facts herein.
After researching I now understand 501 c have Liability and Protection
Board members and officers of a nonprofit can be sued for a wide variety of breaches, and their personal assets can be at risk, so most nonprofits protect themselves with directors and officers (D&O) insurance. Lawsuits generally cover claims of fraud and manipulation, personal financial gain, breach of fiduciary duty, financial mismanagement, negligence and mistakes and errors. Even when an association has insurance, every board member and officer must be proactive in protecting the organization from such claims through detailed record-keeping, maintenance of paper trails covering all decisions and management activities, and full compliance with best practices for human resource management, civil rights and anti-discrimination laws
http://www.hope-4-today.org/
http://www.hope-4-today.org/#!__our-board
George S Briscoe II
Chairman of the Board
Gerald Gipp, Ph.D.
Before joining Hope 4 Today, Dr. Gipp's career includes such executive positions as interim Director for The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and the Executive Director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Dr. Gipp received his undergraduate teaching degree at Ellendale State Teachers College in North Dakota. He completed his Masters and Ph.D. at The Pennsylvania State University, where he assumed the position of Director of the American Indian Leadership Program.
With extensive background in education and federal policy development, including work as a program officer for The National Science Foundation in Arlington, VA, Dr. Gipp continues to build an accomplished and diverse career.He is a national and international scholar and has written numerous articles on education policy, governance, and economic development.
In 2007, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award from The National Indian Education Association; the largest group of professional educators serving American Indian and Alaska Native Students in the United States.
Michael Wilson, Ph.D.
Dr. Wilson is an Associate Professor and Undergraduate advisor and Associate Dean at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Department of English.
He completed his Bachelor of Arts at Oklahoma State University and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. at Cornell University, NY.
Currently he is working on completing his second book; his first book "Writing Home" is available from Michigan State University Press.
Active in community projects in the metro Milwaukee area, he also served on the National Indian Telecommunications advisory board and on the advisory board to the University of Alberta (B.C.) for its governance program.
Linda Sue Warner, Ph.D.
Hope 4 Today's Director Emerita. Dr. Warner, a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma, completed her Ph.D. in general administration with emphasis in personnel from the University of Oklahoma in 1989. She completed a masters degree in education administration at Penn State in 1978. She earned her associate degree in liberal arts from Northeastern A&M Junior College in 1968, her bachelor of arts in language arts and education from Northeastern State University in 1970.
Warner 's career includes recent assignment by Department of Interior to Special Assistant to the President for Tribal Affairs, Northeastern Oklahoma A & M.
Prior to this assignment, Dr. Warner was President of Haskell, one of 35 tribal colleges throughout the United States. Before returning to federal service, Warner worked for the Tennessee State Board of Regents, where she was responsible for research and graduate programs for the sixth largest university system in the United States with 182,000 students, six universities, 13 community colleges, and 26 technology centers as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
From 1999 to 2003, Warner was the chief executive officer of a private school in Milwaukee, a non-profit organization with a corporate and education mission. Warner has also held various administrative and instructor positions with numerous schools and organizations including serving as the Director of the American Indian Leadership program at Penn State. She began her teaching career in Northeast Missouri public school system and moved in 1975 to The Bureau of Indian Affairs school system where she administered programs in Alaska, New Mexico, Kansas, and Arizona.
Warners various honors include being appointed by the White House to the National Advisory Council of American Indian Education and appointment to the Board of the Foundation for Excellence in American Indian Education in the Department of Interior. She was named Indian Educator of the Year in 2000, by the National Indian Education Association. In 2011 she was named lead delegate to the World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Peru.
Dr. Warner is the mother of two sons and has one grandson and two granddaughters.
Rick J. Short, Ph.D.
Rick J. Short, earned his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Human Development & Psychological Services. He is licensed in Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina as a psychologist, in Texas as a psychological associate, and in North Carolina as a school psychologist.Currently he is the Dean at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He has extensive academic experience and honors and served as a Fellow at the American Psychological Association in 2005.
Luther S. Williams, Ph.D.
Dr. Luther S. Williams earned his Ph.D. in microbial physiology from Purdue University. Affiliated with Tuskegee University where he served as Provost until 2010, he is an international scholar.
Prior to his work in Tuskegee, Dr. Williams served as the William T. Kemper Director of Education and Interpretation at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, MO.
His career includes over a decade as senior science advisor at The National Science Foundation and he has held numerous academic and federal appointments, including Chairman of the White House Biotechnology Science Coordinating Committee.
His academic career includes positions at Purdue University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and President of Atlanta University.
Mr. Ray Aprill,
Ray Aprill is a member of the Ottawa Tribe of Michigan. Ray's work with youth reflects his experiences as a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.Ray Aprill taught Camp Carl campers about the outdoors. Ray is a trained herpetologist.
Mrs. Elizabeth Briscoe
Elizabeth Briscoe joined the Board of Directors for Hope 4 Today in 2009. As a principal partner in VPW Management, LLC, Ms. Briscoe's experiences in adminisration and hospitality management provide Hope 4 Today with creative project perspectives.
Ms. Briscoe grew up in the metropolitan St. Louis area and has worked in Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.
Ms. Briscoe's love of the outdoors is infectious. Ms. Briscoe is committed to creating life-long learners; her work with youth emphasizes skills in creative writing, art, and music. A talented artist, Ms. Briscoe consults on Camp Carl curriculum activities.
Mr. Dean
Mr. Dean has recently been elected Treasurer of Hope 4 Today. He received his Master's in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2008. Mr. Dean has executive administrative experience in Budget Rental Car, Tru-Green Chemlawn, Advance American and Project C.U.R.E. Mr. Dean also has extensive experience in non-profits working with local community organizations and school in Dayton, Ohio.
He was instrumental in two National Championship wins for the Scholastic Clay Target Program Ladies. His first female student, Stacey Schroeder, won the National Championship and was named tothe Junior Olympic Team.
Youth educational activities are influenced by the democratic principles reflected in our Founding Fathers' philosophy. Mr. Briscoe's work with Hope 4 Today reinforces those principles and our Constitutional Rights by providing learning opportunities for students reinforcing core values of respect, equity, accountability, courage and honesty (REACH)