At least one Lakeland Mill employee doesn't like the system for distributing the money donated after the fatal explosion and fire that destroyed the Prince George lumber facility.
Applications for the money donated to the largest Lakeland-focused trust fund are now being accepted by the Prince George Community Foundation - the society acting as the fund's collection point.
George Kovachick, a 30-year employee at Lakeland, said he believed the money was donated in public good faith intending it to be shared equally. He is offended that in order to access the donated money, there is a questionnaire asking for information about each applicant's personal circumstances.
"I don't trust this at all. I only trust people I know," he said. "Who are the people asking these questions? Who are they to decide? Nobody knows the names of the people on the decision-making committee, so who made them God? I think people donated to this fund believing it would be distributed equally to all Lakeland employees. The fund was set up for Lakeland employees - that means everybody."
He added that he would not be applying for any funds for himself.
The PGCF was not involved in establishing the fund, nor are they involved in distributing the fund, only in holding the money as they do for a number of fund-holders connected to social investments.
Foundation executive director Judy Neiser said that the individuals who started the fund are the ones who will decide how it is distributed, but it was specified from the start that those people would be kept anonymous.
It was also specified from the startup of the fund, said Neiser, that the monies collected would be distributed at the specified discretion of the fund-holder.
"The criteria was that it go out to the Lakeland employees based on need. That was very clearly stated - that yes it would be for Lakeland employees but yes it would be based on need," she said.
The online donation button on the PGCF's website says as much. It states:
"Fund Description: In the wake of a disastrous fire that took place Monday, April 23 at the Lakeland Mill site in Prince George a fund has been set up that will be adjudicated by a third party who will distribute funds to those families requiring assistance."
The application form now being distributed this week to Lakeland employees has about a dozen information boxes to fill in. It asks questions like were you injured in the incident?, were you on shift the night of the fire?, are you currently unemployed as a result?, have you been offered work and turned it down?, the amounts of money you have received since the fire, your family make-up, how you would use the fund's money, etc.
Kovachich said he is offended by the notion that people have to divulge even their names (to be kept confidential within the application process). He thinks every employee should get an equal amount, with no evaluation of need.
"They want people to fight over who was hurt more, or who was more in need," he said. "How is any of that their business? And those who were really hurt have workers' compensation coming to them. They are maybe making more money now than when they were working. The only fair way to do it is give everyone an equal amount."
Neiser said that assistance funds typically involve some form of application and judgment of that application. The public is used to that. Sports teams, artists, community organizations, people in medical situations, students competing for scholarships, etc. apply for funding from a number of sponsorship organizations and it is understood that often there are more applicants than there are available funds. Choices must be made.
"I think they have a tough job, and my hat goes off to anyone who sits on that committee and any committee for fund allocations," she said. "The fund-holder in this case specified that it be based on need, in light of different people being affected by the incident in different ways."
Due to the legislation the PGCF is bound by, there are safeguards in place that guarantees the monies will be distributed as promised. Part of that is the stated assurance that neither the PGCF nor the anonymous fund-holder will receive any payment themselves. There have been other funds established for Lakeland employees that, Neiser said, did not all have these legal safeguards. It was up to the donor to give money to trustworthy fund-holders.
"It is the fund-holder's money and it is the fund-holder's call how it is allocated," she said. "The process we have set up - based on many years of experience in this field - will work if everyone is honest and keeps in mind that it was something you never would have had, had people not been generous."
The money donated to the PGCF fund has collected more than $400,000 said Neiser. No one has received any money from it yet. Applications were just recently sent out to Lakeland employees and the application process would be open until the end of August.
