Hallo gang...
ref: bereavement fund
So many questions... This AM I had a look at the CNN.com
transcript of the Nancy Grace show on the 23rd June. Nicole Partin, investigative reporter, is quoted as saying:
>>Nancy, I have been raised and I live in a home where my parents are pastors. I have been to hundreds of funerals. Never have I seen an offering taken or donations taken at a funeral.<
Partin's quote reminded me of the post I made several days ago which included the following:
So this morning, I challenged myself -- was a bereavement offering "really" taken? What proof do we have?
Here are notes from one article:
>>Sheri Coleman’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Coleman and attorney Jack Carey was contacted by the donor.
According to the donor, collection was taken by the church during funeral services for Sheri and her sons.
Carey said, “We were chagrined at this revelation of this fund and understand it is a sizeable amount. I just wonder where that money went and whether it is being used to benefit Christopher Coleman.”
Carey wants an accounting of collections taken at the church at the May 9 wake.<<
Here are notes from another article:
>>Testimony by Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards outlining evidence against Christopher Coleman so disturbed one donor to a bereavement fund collected by the Chester church that the donor stopped payment on the check.
Belleville lawyer Jack Carey, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Christopher Coleman on behalf of his slain wife's family, said the donor contacted him and told him about the collection basket at the funerals. Now Carey wants an accounting of collections taken at the May 9 wake and funeral at Grace Church Ministries.<<
Actually the viewing was the 8th, the private funeral was the 9th -- if I recall correctly. The viewing and the funeral were two separate events.
I am curious... Bluenotes...your wife and friends went to the viewing, was there a service at the viewing or was it just streams of people? Were they "invited" to gift to a bereavement fund?
The above note of a "revelation of this fund and understand it is a sizeable amount" is interesting. How would anyone know this? Of course, the donor who stopped payment knew what they wrote their check for, perhaps they talked to others who mentioned what they were gifting. Either way, the question does become, "For whose benefit, and for what purpose, was this fund collected."