Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/57518
OPINION Shelter or Boarding House? by DAVID G. WILSON There is something about Fayetteville's Jubilee house that simply does not pass the smell test. More precisely there are many things. Navy veteran Barbara Marshall's good works of housing homeless women veterans gained national attention. From there ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition jumped into action and in short order produced a $500,000, 7,200-square- foot house where once a $24,000 house had stood. Well and good if the intent and purpose as Marshall described it was, in fact, the truth of the matter. COMING THE CROWN... March G T The Jubilee House, a 7,200-square-foot home in- tended for homeless veterans, is empty. This then brings me to the truth as we might perceive it. The house can accommodate 10 clients. Currently there may be none in the Reverend Marshall's care. Fayetteville has an abundance of women in need of shelter for an abundance of reasons, yet Marshall cannot provide a roof and meal for any? The most acceptable reason for this puzzling mission failure is the absence of money. But that doesn't equate because Marshall has received about $50,000 since her brand new house was completed. So show us the money or show us how those funds were applied to her clearly stated mission. Look no further than Marshall's real- estate investments. She purchased two homes, one in the Summerhill area and one near the Jubilee House location for a total of $35,000 each and to use as "transitional shelters" for female veterans. But hold on here. Is that not the purpose of the Jubilee House which is empty? Marshall's real estate purchases have all the ear marks of a rental-housing investment. Then consider that buying a house in Summerhill or Gilmore Street requires a loan, a mortgage, and that requires these days a careful analysis of the borrower's ability to manage the loan. But Marshall got one heck of a deal. Marshall received a discount as the VA has explained it. If the discount was such that the houses are free and clear, Marshall got the deal of a lifetime, or was the VA gullible beyond belief? Then there is the "donation" of $75 per week required of homeless women. A donation is a voluntary contribution. It is not a requirement which is rent. But Marshall expects payment from her clients, if she had any for shelter and food which the community, again, WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM was led to believe was offered out of goodness of heart and charity to the less fortunate. So this sets up the question. Is Marshall running a boarding house in the guise of a charity for the homeless or is she honestly just a good-hearted woman who is woefully incompetent? I suspect the former. This situation then is to be addressed and brought back to functioning as intended by overview and guidance by a competent and vitally involved board of directors. That board must obviously not include Marshall's family members. Current news about that is not reassuring. It is somewhat laughable. Board member Rebekah Sanderlin has reported that all is well with the Jubilee House. But then what else would one expect from the leading board member? Surely do not expect objectivity and truth about the matter. Tell us more about the Summerhill house and the Gilmore Street house and their fi nancing, if any. Explain the Jubilee House's lack of clients? And where exactly did the $50,000 go? I wonder if Marshall is as uninformed as she claims about the state's requirement for a license to solicit funds as a non-profi t charity or was she trying to fl y under the radar in that regard. Fayetteville leadership has so often failed to adequately investigate situations before jumping in with all four feet. The Jubilee house is a case in point. Perhaps the same city staffer that gave the mayor a go ahead on the Moorish- American declaration recommended city endorsement of Jubilee House and Barbara Marshall. Unless accountability and complete transparency guide the project's future, Jubilee House will become a tremendous disappointment to the many who devoted their time, effort and money to the understood cause. DAVID G. WILSON, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com 1-3.............. Eastern Regional High School Basketball Championship 2-4.............. RV Sales Event 3.................. Marvin Sapp: I Win Listening Party 4.................. FireAntz vs Columbus Cottonmouths 8.................. Command Performance Breakfast 8-11............ Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey presents Barnum Bash 14-16.......... Hugs & Kisses Consignment Sale 15................ FireAntz vs Knoxville Ice Bears 15................ Charlotte's Web (School Show) 16................ Wheel of Fortune Auditions 17................ FireAntz vs Pensacola Ice Flyers 21................ North Carolina Symphony (School Show) 21................ Break the Chain of Child Abuse 22................ 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