Charity turned down £192 donation (From Yeovil Express)
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Charity turned down £192 donation
6:00pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News
Charity turned down £192 donation
SOMERSET wine tutor Linda Vijeh was left scratching her head when she was politely told ‘thanks, but no thanks’ by Alcoholics Anonymous after she tried to give the charity a donation of nearly £200.
Linda, who is also a councillor on South Somerset District Council and Ilminster Town Council, is well-known for her fundraising work and decided to give up wine for six weeks for charity.
She raised £192, not by sponsorship, but by the amount she would have spent on the equivalent of one glass of wine a day.
She said: “It seemed appropriate to donate the money to the AA, but I couldn’t find a way to donate online, so I asked a friend to go along to one of their meetings.
“She was informed that they only take donations from members.”
Roger Booth, general secretary of Alcoholics Anonymous, confirmed that the charity did not accept donations from outside the group.
“AA is unique among charities because it doesn’t accept outside contributions because of the principle we hold of being self-supporting,” he said.
“This tradition of self-support is underpinned by the Alcoholics Anonymous (Dispositions) Act of 1986 and ensures that AA is supported solely through the voluntary contributions of members – therefore, AA does not fundraise.”
Linda has donated her £192 to Val Keitch and the Community Justice Panel, which needs outside financial support.
“I decided to support the justice panel on the grounds that a lot of crime is due to alcohol abuse,” said Linda.
Comments(10)
sheldoncooper
says...
7:08pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Dajafman
says...
7:28pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Mark1970
says...
11:27pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Linda would have been better off dividing the £192 by 60p and coming to Taunton for every time some drunk asks for 60p to make a phone call.
She could have helped a lot more people, and maybe one of them might have actually been going to make a phone call rather than spending it on another can to get drunk with.
DannyDyersChocolateHomunculus
says...
11:33pm Thu 10 Jan 13
2.How close to death from bordem were they?
3.How slow does a day need to be for this to be deemed newsworthy?
4.Was the outcome that in some way, EDF or Tesco are to blame for AA not taking the donation or atleast mentioned in the same breath?
Dick Turpin Works For Council
says...
11:36pm Thu 10 Jan 13
DannyDyersChocolateHThis ones quite easy.
omunculus wrote:
1.Who contacted the paper about this and why?
2.How close to death from bordem were they?
3.How slow does a day need to be for this to be deemed newsworthy?
4.Was the outcome that in some way, EDF or Tesco are to blame for AA not taking the donation or atleast mentioned in the same breath?
Lets just say that Linda Vijeh has been no stranger in the past to the pages of the local rag "for no real apparent reason".
heypedro
says...
9:01am Fri 11 Jan 13
OMG!!!!
says...
9:28pm Fri 11 Jan 13
Thurza
says...
4:14pm Sat 12 Jan 13
Blurby Monster
says...
7:17pm Mon 14 Jan 13
Dick Turpin Works For Council says...
7:04pm Thu 10 Jan 13
At £4.57 per glass, that's either expensive wine or big glasses!