Circle Of Concern Rejects Tea Party Donations?

UPDATE: For the rest of the story, check out the follow-up after meeting with Circle of Concern Monday Afternoon.

When the first St Louis tea party met on the steps of the Arch, the Post Dispatch Editorial Board snarked that we should have performed a community service lke food donations instead of assembling to protest. The blatant attempt to cast all tea party protestors as heartless rich conservatives failed miserably, as the Tea Party on April 15th brought in several thousands cans of food and $600.

The generousity of average people was revealed.

So Circle of Concern, mentioned specifically in the first Post Dispatch editorial, and who was on hand for the second Tea Party, decided they don't want our tained donations.  This video from RebootCongress shows a food pantry volunteer and board member spilling the beans that Tea Party donations are not welcome at Circle of Concern for political reasons.

You heard that right.  Enlighted liberals in St Louis would rather needy people go without them allow Tea Party activists to help.  For more, head on over to The Dana Show to see who she covered it Sunday night, and listen to her comments on BreitbartTV.  

You wouldn't know any of this from reading the Post Dispatch, which one again ignores a gathering of 3000 people.  They'll post an anonymous emailer claiming that 10,000 people on April 15th is actually 400, but actual coverage of an event?  Not worth their time.

Comments

[Ellen K]

So I am sure this organization will similarly not accept donations from churches that don't have the right political attitude, which would mean all Catholic churches and organizations. I am sure there are countless other groups that will gladly accept your donations, no questions asked. I would recommend Salvation Army, a group that has been really helping people without soliciting funding from politicians, for over 100 years.

[Dialla Ingilas]

Response from Circle of Concern when I contacted them about this.

Is it true that the use of their van was requested or is this hog wash?

------Response from Circle of Concern----------
“Refused donations” is an over simplification.

Circle Of Concern is an IRS 501 ( c ) 3 organization, meaning donations to us are tax deductible. To maintain that status we have to follow IRS regulations which specifically prohibit Circle from being involved in any political activity.

We are always happy to accept food donations, as well as school supplies and other items families need. (A number of politically active groups bring food to Circle on a regular basis.) We cannot have our van attend a political event or be part of the publicity for a political activity.

No one here made the rules. Not every charity follows them, but, the penalty for getting caught breaking them could be tens of thousands of dollars and many donors who could no longer deduct the value of their gifts.

Thanks for your interest in Circle. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Glenn Koenen
Executive Director

[Jim Durbin]

We're posting an update. I went down with several other people and met with the Circle of Concern members. We're filing an update, a very interesting one. Circle of Concern decided not to allow volunteers to collect food at Tea Parties because staged photos from left wing activists made them nervous.