Here is an experience I had because I was totally ignorant of how things worked at the time. A sister owned an old livable house she was raising her 5 children in. She got married and together new husband and wife decided to take down the old house and put in a new manufactured house. Somehow, the foundation of the new house wasn't done right. In a few years the husband takes up with another and leaves the woman. She is stuck with a house payment and a house that is sliding off the foundation, down the hill. This woman had been JW for years. The local brothers knew of her plight. I fussed at the elders and told them how they would get volunteers and go for miles and days to help disaster areas, while they didn't care about the sisters home. This did prompt them to look into the situation, but it was too late. The sister lost her faulty home to the finance company. ( and the land she had owned with the old house.) It seems to me, that people will goes for miles out of their way to put on the charity face, while those in need close to home are ignored.
JW profit from disasters
by enoughisenough 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Magnum
I smelled a rat when I was still in the cult. One day it just hit me: Almost everybody has homeowner's insurance. Who gets the insurance payouts when the org does disaster relief work? It all instantly made sense to me. The org buys materials at bulk (reduced) price. It has free labor. It doesn't even provide transportation to the site. It doesn't provide food or housing (the locals do). The labor is usually the most expensive part of a job, and the org gets it all totally free. Then, the org gets the big insurance payouts.
When I figured it out, I mentioned it to a prominent elder in my area whom I knew extremely well. At the time, he was more open to being honest about and critical of the org (he's no longer like that; his head is buried in the sand now). When I asked him who gets the insurance payouts, he got a smile on his face and looked at the ground - indicating that he completely grasped my implication. He said he was going to find out, but he never said anything about it.
What really burns my ass up is that the org brags in the mags (at least it used to) about how loving and generous and noble it is for doing disaster relief. Bull-damned-shit! It makes big money on disaster relief. It is a self-serving, deceptive, corrupt cult.
I have mentioned this before on this forum, but I'm going to relate it again. A few years ago (2015ish?), I was driving at night on I-95 near Savannah GA for an out-of-town work assignment. I happened to hear an extremely interesting and eye-opening and long (at least an hour) radio documentary on disaster relief.
Bottom line... there are huge profits to be made on disaster relief, and JWs aren't the only ones in on the deal. There is big competition for work sites, so much so that some charities conspire with each other and have various tactics for claiming sites, like sharing their logoed t-shirts with each other and having personnel go stand on sites wearing the t-shirts to claim sites. Charities put "FEMA" banners on their supply trucks so they can bypass DOT weigh stations and save time and try to arrive at sites before the competition. One charity bought a $200,000.00 excavator because it knew it could easily recoup that money and make a nice profit on the excavator.
I wish somebody could find that documentary; I'd like to record it. I think it was on a non-profit public radio station - maybe something like NPR. I might be off on the year. I know it was before 2018 because I quit working for the company that sent me out of town in the spring of 2018.
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Beth Sarim
The Borg has to eventually become a nicer, gentler & kinder religion too.
If they want to maintain their 501c3 status.
Watch this space. What is more important than $$ ??
is its image.
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truthlover123
Does anyone know that the homeowners are approached first with a NDA in that they will sign off on the insurance if the brothers do the job? They - the org -are not likely to let that go. After all, once it is done, the homeowner could change their mind and keep the money and have a new house to boot.
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Beth Sarim
TonusOH
No problem.
If I can remember,,correctly,,, the RBC was overtaken by the LDC almost 10 years ago.
If memory serves,,,I remember there were numerous of these "secret elders"" letters (not so secret) about the congregations retaining only a few thousand dollars in their local accounts.
Probably as a cash & grab ploy to sell the KHs out from under the $heeples. The ones who dedicated time,labor and resources to build KHs
Now heres the thing. Labor costs are very costly when building things. But the Borg pays squat. The Borg reaps the benefits of selling khs on the backs of hardworking dedicated people. These people who often are carpenters,,plumbers and electricians. These trades compound building costs. But the Borg,,,it costs nothing. You see,,,free labor.
The Borg reaps the benefits of free labor built on the backs of skilled, free labor.
The centralized ""LDC building"" committee replaces the Regional Build Committee.
Likely to lay the ground for a cash and grab.
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BluesBrother
I have no experience of disaster relief and I only know what has been said on this forum. What is claimed sounds like a clear insurance fraud, to me .
a key principle of insurance is indemnity.The purpose of the indemnity principle is to set back the insured at the same financial position as he was before the loss occurred- no gain no loss.
If my roof is storm damaged and the “ Brothers “ repair it for free , I have suffered no loss. I cannot claim on insurance. If the householder makes a claim based on commercial rates ... it is fraudulent.
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DesirousOfChange
If my roof is storm damaged and the “ Brothers “ repair it for free , I have suffered no loss. I cannot claim on insurance. If the householder makes a claim based on commercial rates ... it is fraudulent.
Actually, you suffered the "loss" when the storm damaged your roof. Most homeowners' insurance (in the US) provides "replacement cost" so you must replace/repair it or you'll not receive full compensation. However, you can ever perform the labor yourself as long as it meets restoration that is at least equal to original, and you are paid for "the loss". No insurance fraud.
The "spin" is that they will use the proceeds to make repairs for those who do not have any insurance, and I do know of them doing this for members of the Cong AND in some places, even for some local government buildings, ie, schools.
I seriously doubt you will find a loyal JW that works on these projects providing the free labor who would complain about it. They see it as serving Jehovah and assisting their brothers.
The "catch" is, WT can use any left-over funds that were contributed for the disaster relief for ANY expense they choose as long as the funds are contributed to the World Wide Work (vs specifically the disaster relief).
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Beth Sarim
And I forgot
The tax. Do you think the Borg or ldc or whatever they call it these days, pays tax on any of these building materials.
I think not. A multi-billion corporation,,which doesn't pay taxes.
Kick backs on their kick backs.
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ThomasMore
Disaster relief was a sordid mess of dishonest motives. That contributed to my departure when I learned firsthand how horrible it all was.
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enoughisenough
ThomasMore, if you are inclined to share, I would be interested in your story of "first hand how horroble it all was"