http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/08/dc-biz-journal-357k-aids-directors-pay.html

Schmiderman, Scmiderman… Sounds Semitic, isn’t it? Well, that explains it: Passion for gain is in the blood. Or can it be Teutonic??
Whatever origin, one must discern good charity from false one, the one aimed to enrich a few by duping many.

That above Randolph has no clue or lying through his teeth to obfuscate the matter.

Withdraw support zippety zap. Preserve your funds for more deserving causes.

Your writings all sound like you are very close to Craig, the board and the top execs. Sorry to say it, but you seem to have a lot invested in defending the stupidity that has led to the outrageous greed of Craig.

I am amazed that you, someone who has pleaded for the rest of us to get all the facts, didn't know about Craig's very public legal troubles, and you're unaware if he apologized for the embezzlement.

You tried deflecting attention away from greedy Craig by raising the issue of my legal troubles, and then posed these questions to me, as if they have any bearing on the dumb F&F board members:

>I’d like to know your academic/professional background, how much money you donate to charity causes, and any volunteer work that you do.<

And I'd like to know who you're sleeping with at F&F or how you profit from the group.

I too, know F&F and all the good work they do. I have volunteered and donated to the organization on many occasions. I think we are getting away from the point. The ED is paid too much money!!! I think it is wonderful that $.75-$.77 cents of every dollar go to programs that help people. It would be higher if the ED compensation were more in line with organizations of comparable size. How about the other employees. Not that they may also be paid too much, but are the regular staff being compensated properly for their hard work.

How ever the Board let this happen. They need to fix it. It hurts the organization and it hurts their mission.

I've lived in DC for many years. In the early 1990s, Food & Friends was not an easy sell for prospective employees, including EDs. The organization was in shambles and there was a stigma against HIV and those who worked with HIV+ people. A couple of nights ago I ran into a friend who used to work at F&F in the pre-Craig days. He recalled several occasions where he received a paycheck on pay day while simultaneously being told not to cash it because there were insufficient funds in the bank. Had Craig not taken over the organization, it probably would have collapsed. The organization's rate of growth has been phenomenal in no small part due to Craig's leadership. As I wrote earlier, I know people---people close to me and whom I care about deeply---who credit Food & Friends with helping them survive HIV.

On a related note, as I was looking for some figures from the F&F website earlier today, I saw that Washingtonian Magazine had named the organization one of the region's Great Places to Work. That is an astonishing turnaround for an organization that 13 years ago could not make payroll.

Michael, you and I will have to agree to disagree regarding Food & Friends. As long as they keep saving lives, spend at least 75 cents of every dollar donated on the program (they current spend 77 cents), and continue to get clean audits, I will continue to support the organization financially and with my time whenever I can. I write from the heart when I say that F&F is one of the DC region's treasures and the people who work and volunteer there, currently and in the past, are my heroes.

Best wishes,

Randy

Randy, maybe it’s time you stopped being randy. For it may help you realize that embezzlement is not dandy.

I'm still waiting for you to answer my question about whether Craig has apologized to those he embezzled. You made a stink about my past legal troubles, said kind words about my apology, but have yet to acknowledge Craig's embezzlement and if he apologized.

Do you have two standards, one for when activists are in legal trouble and another when EDs behave badly?

"390 meals/day, serving a total of 360,777 meals to 995 clients"

See http://www.foodandfriends.org/site/pp.asp?c=ggLMIYOGKrF&b=1851049. Second bullet point from the bottom for year 1995.

As for 2008, the website again clearly states that nearly 1 million meals will be delivered this year.

See http://www.foodandfriends.org/site/pp.asp?c=ggLMIYOGKrF&b=3944237

FYI---it took me less than three minutes to find that information.

And it's Randy, not Randolph. Thanks.

What are you, Randolph - a community idiot, a shallow jester or a cunning fiend? Explain yourself, erroneous cretin.

Meanwhile, a simple calculation based on the data sourced from F&F website shows that in 2008 the enterprise serves 239,525 meals less than it did in 1995 on a four times greater budget ($6.2 million increase). If this is legal, it shouldn’t be. It’s certainly immoral.

You, Randy, do sound like some legal/PR windbag who has a cut in this. Why don’t the pair of you just quit your avaricious ways, come clean, apologize, take pay cuts you derserve and focus on assisting those in need instead?

Wow, Rocco, who was hired by the board, has nothing but praise for those who hired him! As if this somehow validates the board of F&F squandering so much money on one embezzler's salary. Rocco is hardly an impartial party to the scandal of Craig's greed.

Can you tell me if Craig has changed his criminal ways and apologized?

Wow, you're laying the hype on kind of think here. I would hope for $357,000 the ED would be hands on, wouldn't you. And for that kind of money, who wouldn't show some passion?

If the best of America is an embezzler from a nonprofit getting an even better paying job in the nonprofit sector, who am I to argue with rehab for criminals?