 |
 |
Two Parkinsons charities causing confusion Last Updated Fri, 24 May 2002 16:54:45 OTTAWA - The Parkinson Society says it's alarmed by a similar- sounding charity going door-to-door collecting donations. Parkinson's Disease is a degenerative illness characterized by tremors, stiffness, slowness of movement and difficulty with balance. The disease affects 100,000 Canadians, including actor Michael J. Fox. Fox has gone public with his battle against the disease and has helped raise awareness — and money — in Canada and the United States. But now, there are questions about where that money is going. The Parkinson Society has received hundreds of calls from confused people who were canvassed by another charity with a similar sounding name. "People felt the canvassers were misinformed about Parkinson's and didn't know what they were talking about," says Mary Jardine of the Parkinson Society of Canada. "Donors who have contributed to our organization began getting confused." The other charity is called The Parkinson's Support and Research Society. Much of the information on its Web site is copied word for word from an Ottawa Parkinson Society Web site. The brochure has also been heavily plagiarized. According to government documents, the new charity is run from Bedford, N.S. by David Waldron and his daughter Kimberley. Like many start-up charities, it has a contract with a fundraising company, which organizes door-to-door canvassing. The fundraising company also takes a cut of whatever is collected. By doing it this way, smaller charities have an appearance of running a national program. The pamphlet produced by the Parkinson's Support and Research Society gives the impression it has an Ontario office, but the address is for the fundraising company. "We have some concerns because this organization claims it's primary reason for being is to find a cause and cure for Parkinson's," says Jardine. "No one in the Parkinson's research community is familiar with this organization and we can't get any answers about what research they are supporting." Calls to the new charity have not been returned. Officials at the Parkinson Society say they do not collect money door-to-door and say they want Canadians to understand just who they are giving their donations to. Written by CBC News Online staff SOURCE: CBC http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/05/24/Consumers/Parkinsons_020524 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn