John MacDonald: Why not keep the gang's charity money?

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

This is a moral dilemma and, maybe, an over-reaction at the same time.

At Wellsford, the local Head Hunters chapter had a charity motorbike ride. They raised $2,500 and decided to donate the money to the local volunteer fire brigade - which is raising funds to buy an all-terrain vehicle.

They reckon that one of these things would be a very handy addition to their kit. Because, if they’re dealing with an emergency off the beaten track, an all-terrain vehicle would be perfect.

So, the gang has the event, gets on the blower to the fire brigade, and says they’d like to give them the money because, you know, they provide a great service to the community. No argument with that.

Where the argument has started, though, is when the fire brigade has gone on social media and made a shout out to the gang guys for their brilliant gesture.

“We are very grateful for the $2,500 donation,” they said in the post. “And we thank all those involved for their efforts.”

The fire brigade goes on to say: “We provide our service to all those in our community and we are very grateful to have that support returned. Our supportive community is what helps us continue to do what we do.”

Now the key bit there is where they say, “we provide our service to all those in our community”. Which is them saying, ‘if gang members are in strife and need our help - we’ll be there’. You might not like that - but it’s true.

The mistake the volunteer brigade made was going on social media and telling people about it. Because all that did was get the people who love to get outraged about stuff, outraged.

‘These guys are crims. You shouldn’t be taking money from crims. Don’t be sucked in by these clowns. Give the money back. Give the money back’. And guess what? They’re being told to give the money back.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has stepped-in and is saying: "We will be working with the brigade to assist them with next steps”.

Which is code for, ‘we’ll be giving those Wellsford muppets a blimmin’ good talking to and, if they don't hand the money back, we’ll be banging some heads together.”

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke van Velden, has got involved as well, saying she doesn’t support volunteer fire brigades accepting donations from people associated with organised crime gangs.

“New Zealanders deserve to be safe and secure, but violent gangs are a scourge on our communities,” she says.

And she’ll get no argument from me on that last bit. Violent gangs are a scourge. The drug trade. The violence. The intimidation. The murders. But what if —now and then— they actually do some good?

You can’t argue that raising $2,500 and giving it to the local volunteer fire brigade isn’t doing good, can you? But it seems to be a real closed shop. Whenever gangs do anything charitable, people always seem to write it off as just a PR exercise.

And yes, this donation to the volunteer fire brigade is another PR exercise. Of course it is. But is it really that bad that the fire brigade and the community shouldn’t benefit from it in some way?

Do you really think the volunteer firefighters are going to give some sort of preferential treatment to the gang or turn a blind eye to some of its other activities because it donated money raised in a legitimate fundraising event? Of course they’re not.

But where it gets really interesting, is that the Head Hunters have a trust which you can find on the New Zealand Charities Register.

The trust’s name is “That Was Then, This Is Now” and, according to the charities register, it exists to re-integrate and rehabilitate people coming out of prison, providing them with education and social services.

I understand it was set-up in 2001 and, around 2016/2017, it was removed from the charities register after the charities board found it wasn’t doing exactly what it was set-up to do. But the gang challenged that, and the High Court decided it could go back on the charities register. And I’ve done a search, and it’s definitely there.

So, if it’s good enough for the Head Hunters’ trust to be listed as a registered charity, doesn’t that make it good enough for the Wellsford Volunteer Fire Brigade to hold on to the money it received from the gang’s fundraising motorbike ride?

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