Questions About Fund Allocation Before the Buffalo 5/14 Fund Town Hall Meeting
Kishia Douglas described the moment she was at the checkout line when a gunman opened fire inside Topps Market on Jefferson Avenue.
“That’s when we heard ‘pop, pop, pop, pop pop,'” she said. “Everyone stopped. Some people landed. We heard the pop pop again. For a moment I thought about getting down but then I decided to run backwards. And once I started running I never went backwards There was no looking back because I didn’t know if I was going to get shot in the back and I didn’t want to see anything behind me.”
Douglas is one of many who were lucky enough to survive the May 14 racist attack that killed 10 people and injured three others, but he will have to live with the trauma of the shooting for the rest of his life.
“I can’t sleep at night, I’m on meds now, something I’ve never done,” she said.
Thursday’s town hall meeting with the 5-14 Survivor Fund committee will help clarify how funds from the 5-14 Survivor Fund will be distributed.
Buffalo Urban League President and CEO Thomas Beauford serves on the steering committee for the 5-14 fund.
Buffalo Urban League President and CEO Thomas Buford
“There will be a process to determine who gets what,” he said. “It will be a spin down, it will happen – they will be determined and those funds will be allocated. Fully allocated, fully disbursed.”
Douglas feels that trauma has kept him out of work for more than two months and aid has been slow to arrive – all the more reason to allocate these funds as quickly as possible.
“Basically what are they talking about when you go to the resource center [Home Energy Assistance Program]he said. Was working before shooting. I tried to go back to work, and here I am, but I’m the one who isn’t talked about. I wasn’t surprised. But I didn’t come out. The way I did Went in.”
Activist Miles Carter is trying to draw attention to the plight of Douglass and others like him, directing them to community-based metal health programs and channeling some funds to forgotten victims who are brainwashed. are not above.
Carter stressed that these individuals need more than just mental health counseling.
“They need financial services. Real financial help,” he said.
But the idea of business and community leaders siphoning private money out of their own accord is strange to Carter.
“I believe the way it works is that all these other organizations put their money into that fund as opposed to giving it directly to the affected individuals,” he said.
But as Carter sees it, the pooling of these resources does not necessarily take into account the intent of the donor.
“All these fundraisers were done for different reasons,” he said. “Some of them were for the families of the deceased, some of them for the injured, some of them for the individuals who were at the top, and some of them for the employees affected. So then putting all that money directly in that pot and then distributing it as you think fit, it’s not morally right.”
Miles Carter speaks with the WBFO on Jefferson Avenue after the visit of President Joe Biden on May 17, 2022.
The Beauford sees the fund acting like the United Way with a needs assessment that determines where the money goes.
“And when we talk about being intentional and intentional there needs to be an assessment, it will be based on community input, they will actively participate in how things are prioritized and how things are appropriated. ,” They said.
Douglas appeals to the committee to do the right thing.
“I want them to be taken care of in such a way that they should have mental health counseling as long as they need it without their insurance, but we don’t have to use our insurance right now. Which means just imagine any survivor should get everything they need to heal.”
