Shame on Fred Jordan Missions #8- For how you spend people's donations (pt. 5)

So funny. Thanks for the work. I guess this site proves that in the new era, no organization can act with total impunity. Eventually, the truth will get out.

I worked for Fred Jordan Missions for many, many years and saw many horrible practices but what always stands out in my mind was what the Mission did with the shoes that Foot Locker generously donated for the poor children of the city. Now, don't get me wrong, at their Back to School New Clothing Giveaway, when the cameras are there, they do give away a ton of shoes and that rocks. But what always broke my heart was how many shoes went to the staff and to the Jordan's themselves. Willie Jordan (President, Fred Jordan Missions) used to send down lists and lists of shoes that we were to pull for her grandkids and children of friends of the family. Tom Jordan, even told me, every year that I worked there to, "take a few pairs for myself and for my wife." Now, I was no saint back then but I would not have taken a pair of shoes even if the President of Foot Locker himself handed them to me. No way. I had shoes at home and the kids that we gave them to had none. But the Jordan's man, they didn't feel that way at all. Peter took 3 or 4 pairs for him and each of his friends. The Mission allowed the Building Manager to take 2 or 3 bags to sell or do god knows what with. It was crazy, watching the Jordan's just trip all over themselves to take those shoes. It broke my heart. Crazy thing was we that were even told when the Foot Locker reps were coming down to the Mission so that we could pull those shoes for Willie and the Jordan's behind Foot Lockers backs.

Speaking of donations, we also used to get a truck load of donations from a local Bed, Bath and Beyond every week or two and Willie Jordan herself, instructed me to pull anything good and put it up in this room that we called Willie's room. I mean if it worked at all or wasn't ripped or broke, I had to put it up there. And I'm more than ashamed to admit it but I did it too. Crazy, the stuff you do when it becomes, "normal" and when your told to do it by someone you love and respect. Anyway, Willie would come down to the Mission, 6 or 7 times a year, (not counting times the cameras were there) go straight up to that room and point out the things she wanted and we'd pack it up in her car while she stopped by the women's service to say, hi. Also, when her friends and kids came through town, she'd take them up there and they would take stuff too. One time when my wife and I moved, Willie told me to go up and take whatever I wanted, but thankfully for my conscience now, that, I never did.