I Will answer some questions here: (We have the other thread I started too on the actual fund as an FYI which has info posted which answers some of the questions posed in this thread…. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52386)
Isra123 wrote:
Certainly it is a good idea and a good cause but it is also necessary to inform all how the funds are being distributed and to whom.
Like everything else transparence is the best policy.
Like everything else transparence is the best policy.
Refer to above link. i plan to be as transparent as I would want someone else to be to me.
FartBlossom wrote:
So, is the goal still to feed the employees in need or just to raise as much money as possible? If it is food, why are the employees now 4X hungrier? Will they magically become 8X hungrier? Has anyone developed a budget of the ACTUAL need?
How about some detail on how this has been or will be distributed? (Yes, I am one who has given)
First, we were not expecting so much in donations (which is a good thing), we just thought some money for a week of food would be great. I will also admit I didn’t realize how many folks work there….they have about 45 employees….so with original thought of a week of food wasn’t accurate.
Orange wrote:
2 things to add:
1. If you plan to send this money to CR via Moneygram, you will want to re-think that. First, there is a monthly limit (I don't remember what it is but it's less than your total) so you will go over with this amount. Second, CR really overreaches their authority when the receiver picks up the money. They will give the receiver a hard time when trying to pick up the money. Let me give you 2 examples. (1) My wife sent her sister (my sister in law) $1500 from the US to CR. When she went to pick up the money, they asked her a million questions about what the money is for, from who, where do they live, same questions 5 different ways trying to catch her in a discrepancy to deny the transaction. (2) We needed to send a friend of our in CR 5 payments of $1200 each. It was every 2 weeks i think. The first 2 went through no problem, but when she went to pick up the 3rd, they wouldn't give her the money saying that she needed a notarized affidavit from us describing what the money was for, or they gave her the option of bringing a lawyer to their office to pick up the money. Absolutely ridiculous how moneygram employees are playing customs officers.
1. If you plan to send this money to CR via Moneygram, you will want to re-think that. First, there is a monthly limit (I don't remember what it is but it's less than your total) so you will go over with this amount. Second, CR really overreaches their authority when the receiver picks up the money. They will give the receiver a hard time when trying to pick up the money. Let me give you 2 examples. (1) My wife sent her sister (my sister in law) $1500 from the US to CR. When she went to pick up the money, they asked her a million questions about what the money is for, from who, where do they live, same questions 5 different ways trying to catch her in a discrepancy to deny the transaction. (2) We needed to send a friend of our in CR 5 payments of $1200 each. It was every 2 weeks i think. The first 2 went through no problem, but when she went to pick up the 3rd, they wouldn't give her the money saying that she needed a notarized affidavit from us describing what the money was for, or they gave her the option of bringing a lawyer to their office to pick up the money. Absolutely ridiculous how moneygram employees are playing customs officers.
Moneygram was original plan…with the amount we are talking about now, we are working things out on how to do an alternative way. Likely I will send via a Wire Transfer to Yendry/Manfred….again not decided yet. Looking into different options and fees associated with them and ability to do such an amount as well as the safety of people.
And in defense of Moneygram in your scenario…..they don’t know if it is money laundering and they need to comply with international laws.
Orange wrote:
2. If your motive is purely to help the less fortunate, the difference you make in people's lives is incredible. I hope this isn't some kind of buying somebody's affection or getting on somebody's good side.
Not at all. I have received a few thank you messages and I have told them I am just the organizer, everyone else should be thanked. Hell I won’t likely be there until at the earliest October…they won’t even remember me by then. LOL
Orange wrote:
And to the guy who made 3 donations totaling $8500 (more than half the total raised), props to you.
I have not even noticed that….though I really haven’t been paying attention to the individual donations; Yendy is keeping track of that (she and Manfred have full visibility)…..but if true WOW…big time Kudos.
Inspector71 wrote:
The idea was to have the front desk staff purchase food for the rest of the staff.
That was original idea and still a possibility, but may not be as feasible with the amount we are talking about now. Ultimately Yendry and Manfred’s decision. I suggested gift cards to a local food chain or to Walmart….but again their decision.
Inspector71 wrote:
So far, to the best of my knowledge, no funds have been sent from the GoFundMe account to Costa Rica. I am hoping that can be accomplished in the next day or so to start helping the staff.
Nothing has been distributed yet, I will post these updates in other thread. I am learning gofundme and I have an email into support about the transferring of funds to me (I did set up my account info already.)
Right now, a few things I did learn:
1) They don’t transfer funds until they have been verified. So not sure how folks paid or how long before they are actually available…how is this determined I don’t know and is one of my questions to support
2) I did set up transfers to be weekly (you have only weekly, monthly or at the close of the fund raiser as options). Weekly are done Mondays. I thought that would transmit the $15k+ to my account sometime this week (they do say it can take 3-5 days to show up in my account). I logged in this morning to see if I can see the actual amount sent to start planning, but system doesn’t show anything and only shows in “history” a transfer scheduled for June 22nd of just over $5k……so it all doesn’t make sense to me which is why I sent questions off (they said currently it can take them 48 hours to answer questions due to Covid 19….not sure why that has anything to do with it, but that is what their site states).
As a note: I planned to set the transfer to weekly for this week to get the big chunk of money to the SL staff ASAP and then reset it to monthly for subsequent donations.
I will update the other thread with funding disbursement news including any updates pertaining to my questions and the initial transfer time frame. I am really hoping we get them the money this week and not the June 22nd date listed for the $5k and hoping the $5k was money not verified yet. (there is no breakdown that I have been able to find)
