Is the American Homeless Veterans charity a good charity or not?

Is the American Homeless Veterans charity a good charity or not? Americans should be ashamed we have homeless at all, let alone veterans who should be honored. Instead, we treat the homeless like criminals.

Why as veterans have we began this campaign to help our fellow brothers and sisters: FOR MANY LIKE MYSELF SURVIVING A WAR ZONE CAN REQUIRE EXTREM MEASURES -FROM REPRESSING YOUR FEARS TO COMPLETELY TURNING OFF YOUR EMOTIONS.THESE MEN AND WOMEN WERE TAUGHT TO BE TOUGH,TO BE STRONG,TO BE WARRIORS AND NOW THEY NEED THE STRENGTH TO BE FATHERS,SONS,DAUGHTERS,TO BE WIVES AND HUSBAND TO BE THEMSELVES, WE ARE VETERAINS WHO CAN HELP THEM FIND THEY WAY WITH THE PEOPLES HELP DO YOU HAVE OUR BACK ITS SIMPLE YES OR NO IF YOU DO GO TO OUR PAGE AND COMMENT OR GIVE ADVICE AS TO HOW WE CAN MAKE IT BETTER FOR EVERY HOMLESS MAN WOMEN AND CHILD IN OUR FINE NATION AS WE ALL SEE THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO CLUE HOW TO END THIS CYCLE OF EVENTS IT WILL BE THE PEOPLE WHO DO THAT BY COMING TOGETHER AS A MAJOR FORCE OF COMPASSION AND LOVE FOR LOVE IS POWER PEOPLE IF YOUR STRONG ENOUGH TO GIVE IT TO ANOTHER

FREEDOM IS EASY TO TAKE FOR GRANTED FOR MANY PEOPLE,IT IS A LUXURY THEY WILL NEVER KNOW.THAT IS WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO HAVE RISKED EVERY THING FOR US

,MANY VETERIANS OUR HOMELESS TODAY AS WE SPEAK AND TWO OF THE MEN I AM TRYING TO HELP OUR JUST THAT VETERAINS OUR MEN AND WOMEN VETERAINS LIKE MYSELF STOOD FOR THE PEOPLE ,NOW LETS STAND FOR THEM.THEY FOUGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS BECAUSE WE FELT IT WAS OUR DUTY .WE THE VETERANS AND THE RESISTANCE ARE ASKING YOU TO SHOW YOUR PATRIOTISM AND HAVE THEIR BACKS AT HOME AS THESE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WITH FAMILYS AND CHILDREN ARE OFTEN TO OVERWHELMED AND THE SYSTEM IS UNPREPARED TO HELP THEM EVERY DOLLAR WE SECURE GO 100% TO THE FAMILYS WE HELP WE DO NOT ASK FOR ONE THING IN RETURN FOR MANY OF US THIS IS OUR DUTY TO THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE,

A national charity that vows to help disabled veterans and their families has spent tens of millions on marketing services, all the while doling out massive amounts of candy, hand sanitizer bottles and many other unnecessary items to veteran aid groups, according to a CNN investigation.

The Disabled Veterans National Foundation,http://www.dvnf.org/dvnf-provides-detailed-information-about-contributions-to-veterans-community-to-senate-finance-committee/ based in Washington, D.C., and founded in 2007, received about $55.9 million in donations since it began operations in 2007, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms. Yet according to the DVNF's tax filings with the IRS, almost none of that money has wound up in the hands of American veterans.

Instead, the charity made significant payments to Quadriga Art LLC, which owns two direct-mail fundraising companies hired by the DVNF to help garner donations, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms. Those forms show the charity paid Quadriga and its subsidiary, Brickmill Marketing Services, nearly $61 million from 2008 until 2010, which was the last year public records were available. The independent group CharityWatch;http://www.charitywatch.org/ gave the DVNF an "F" grade. More than 30 veterans charities were rated by the independent group by the amount they spend on fundraising compared to actual donations, and two-thirds were given either a D or F grade, according to CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff.

"Up to $2 billion is raised in the name of veterans in this country and it's so sad that a great deal of it's wasted," Borochoff said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars of our charitable dollars intended to help veterans is being squandered and wasted by opportunists and by individuals and companies who see it as a profit-making opportunity." WEWS: Suspect accused of stealing millions through phony veterans charity;http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/top-fugitive-suspected-of-ripping-off-millions-in-a-phony-navy-charity-busted-by-federal-marshals On its website,http://dvnf.vidfluence.com/content/dvnf-helps-vets-distressed-tornados the DVNF posted a "news bulletin" announcing that the charity had sent badly needed goods "by the truckload" to veterans centers in Birmingham, Alabama, in the wake of last year's devastating tornados.

DVNF specifically cited a small veterans charity called St. Benedict's. But the charity's executive director said most of the donations from DVNF could hardly be classified as "badly needed." "They sent us 2,600 bags of cough drops and 2,200 little bottles of sanitizer," J.D. Simpson told CNN. "And the great thing was, they sent us 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's. And we didn't have a lot of use for 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's. " Simpson said the DVNF also sent him more than 700 pairs of Navy dress shoes, which he said he can't use. He has put them up for purchase at a yard sale.

In its tax filings, the DVNF also claims to have sent millions of dollars of so-called "Goods In Kind" to smaller veterans-related charities around the nation. In one instance, the DVNF claimed more than $838,000 in fair market value donations to a small charity called US Vets in Prescott, Arizona.http://www.usvetsinc.org/

CNN obtained the bill of lading for that shipment, which showed that, among other things, hundreds of chefs coats and aprons were included in the delivery, along with a needlepoint design pillowcase and cans of acrylic paint. The goods listed in the two-page shipping document were things "we don't need," a US Vets spokesman said. And at the bottom of the bill of lading, the DVNF itself estimated the value of the shipment at around $234,000 -- significantly less than the $838,000 it reported to the IRS.

CNN has attempted to get a comment from the DVNF for more than a year, but has received no specific replies, even after submitting several questions in writing. When approached by a CNN crew at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Disabled National Veterans president Precilla Wilkewitz rebuffed questions. "Well, this is the Veterans of Foreign Wars and I really didn't think you'd do something like this and we've agreed to talk to you ... answer your questions," she said, standing in the entranceway to her office.

Wilkewitz is the former national legislative liaison for the VFW, which is not directly tied to the Disabled Veterans National Foundation. She said she would answer questions only in writing, but so far CNN has received no response. When asked about Quadriga's relationship with DVNF, spokesman Ron Torossian told CNN in an e-mail that the company is privately owned and "we do not discuss specific client relationships." But according to IRS filings, Quadriga has been paid for direct-mail services by DVNF since the charity was founded in 2007. Torossian did say in his e-mail, "At times, Quadriga chooses to invest money in partnerships with non-profit organizations. Sometimes it is a successful business venture, while others it is not." In a subsequent e-mail, Torossian said Quadriga had lost $7 million investing in veterans nonprofit organizations.

When CNN asked whether that included the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, he said "your facts remain woefully inadequate," but he declined to elaborate in a later e-mail exchange. He also threatened to sue CNN on behalf of Quadriga. At the small house in Birmingham where J.D. Simpson operates St. Benedict's, he said his main goal is to provide beds to homeless and disabled veterans. He characterized the DVNF operation in harsh terms.

"I ask myself what the heck are these people doing stealing from our veterans. because that's what they are doing," Simpsons said. "I don't care how you look at it. These people have sacrificed for our country. And there are some people out there raising money to abuse 'em and that just makes me mad."