Need info on an organization: "America Responds With Love", www.respondwithlove.org

[drm604]

Any info would be useful. Are they legit? Do they really do good work? Do they have any questionable connections or known scandals? I have absolutely no reason to be suspicious of them but I want to be sure about them for reasons I prefer not to go into.

I'm cross-posting this to General Discussion and the Pennsylvania forum since they are located in Valley Forge.

[jwirr]

1. I am also interested.

[Jackeens]

2. George Bush Snr admired the founder of America Responds With Love, which is a worry.

Kidding.

Just looked around and couldn't find much, other than Bush praising the founder, Richard A. McDonough, when he was chosen for that Points of Light program.

http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=1385&year=1989&month=all
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=3441&year=1991&month=9


More here on McDonough -

Richard A. McDonough is the President and Chief Executive Officer of America Responds With Love, Inc. McDonough has led the non-profit organization since its founding in 1989.

America Responds With Love has utilized excess inventory from a number of industries, including the furniture, computer, seed, publishing, hospitality, toy, excavation, and transportation sectors. Since 1982, hotels and motels have donated excess inventory through a program created and coordinated by McDonough. More than 102,000 people truly in need have been housed through this program.

McDonough also created the Respond With Love® Program, which allows individual donors the ability to choose how their specific donations are used—for which specific products and services, for which specific issues, and in which specific regions. Each individual donor is able to track each of their donations. An information note is provided to each donor detailing non-confidential information about the actual person who benefited from their specific contribution.

McDonough received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Temple University in 1981. A former news reporter, Mr. McDonough was honored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews with the Gold Medallion Mass Media Award for outstanding contributions to better human relations and the cause of brotherhood.

http://www.rltshows.com/bios/rich_mcdonough_americaresponds.php



Couldn't find anything dodgy, but who knows?

"America Responds With Love, Inc. owns about 189 other domains" - is that, eh, normal? :shrug: http://whois.domaintools.com/respondwithlove.org

[drm604]

3. I know about the other domains.

They're nearly all variations of the same thing.

Some examples:
america-respond.com
america-respond.net
america-respond.org
america-responds-with-love.com
america-responds-with-love.net
america-responds-with-love.org
america-responds.com
arwl.com
togivelove.com
togivelove.net
togivelove.org

If you go here: http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/ and enter 209.235.196.227 you'll see what I mean.

Points of light? So you're talking about Bush Sr. right? Not my favorite President by a long shot, but his endorsement isn't an automatic kiss of death. In fact, what you posted makes them sound pretty legit.

[Jackeens]

4. Thanks drm604

Sorry, I thought at first that it was Bush Jnr, but you're right, it was Snr (I updated my post).

Yeah, I was just kidding about the Bush endorsement, it does actually suggest McDonough's work is legit - if it is, it sounds like a brilliant organisation, but I tend to be hopelessly suspicious about these things. It'll be interesting to see if any DUers have personal experience of their work.

[drm604]

5. I knew you were kidding.

I've been doing some Googling and it does sound like a legit, even commendable, organization.

[drm604]

6. Anyone else have anything? n/t