"Local Charities": Where does your money really go?

Last Saturday, while patronizing a local family restaurant, I witnessed a series of events that I am almost too appalled to speak of. Almost. I had offered to drive for a few of my friends who wanted to go out and see the band that was playing at this establishment. When I took my seat at the corner of the bar, I recognized a woman who I knew to be the mother of a local Royersford/ Phoenixville boy who has been suffering from a rare and deadly form of childhood cancer. Our community has rallied around this child and his family, and I know many of us have donated money to his cause, myself included.

I was surprised to see his mother sitting at a bar, but I was also glad that she was able to get out of the house for a while. I could not imagine what life must be like for a mother with a child so sick. Well, that was until I heard her say to the bartender “I had a bad day, keep them coming. Tonight is all about me.” Okay, I figured I could kind of understand that too, and I was praying that her “bad day” didn’t have anything to do with her son. About an hour later, her brother arrived and they all went to go play pool in the restaurant’s game room.

I stayed at the bar to listen to the music. Shortly after I noticed some commotion going on with the manager and two of the male employees, and heard someone say that there had been a fight. Obviously that got my attention and I watched vigilantly to see what was going on. Moments later I heard the manager screaming after the little boy’s uncle, saying “get out of here, someone call 911.” The uncle ran out of the building, with the manager following him, while others came running to the bar frantically asking for towels and yelling that someone was bleeding. The bartender who was on the phone with 911 ran back into the game room to see what was going on and I heard her saying “please, it’s one of our employees. He’s bleeding really bad from his neck. We need an ambulance now!” At this point, the sick child’s mother came back up to the bar to pay her bill so she could leave. The bartender told her that the cops were coming and she needed to stay until they arrived. “The cop’s aren’t going to do anything to me or my family” the mother said, “I’m ----- ----‘s mom!”

I couldn’t believe that had just come out of her mouth. I was so disgusted. It didn’t take long for the paramedics and the police to arrive, and everyone was able to feel more comfortable about enjoying the rest of the night. Later, I asked the bartender what happened and she told me that while they were asking the sick boy’s uncle to leave, he smashed a pint glass into the side of an employee’s face and it shattered, deeply gouging his neck. I asked if he was going to be all right and the bartender started crying and said that they just found out he was being air lifted to a trauma center because the emergency room couldn’t control the bleeding.

For the past few days, all I have been able to think about is how badly that man was injured and the fact that the mother of this sick child thought she could use his name to get her brother out of trouble for what he did. I will never give another dollar of my money to the ----- family. I will never attend another fundraiser, bake sale, or car wash in his name, and that saddens me. That four-year-old boy at home, dying of cancer, should not have to suffer for the inexcusable actions of his family. However, any mother who goes out and gets so drunk at a bar that she watches her own brother maim a person for no reason, THEN tries to use her sick son’s name to get away with it, will never receive any sympathy from me. I just hope that her alcohol tab wasn’t paid for with my money…or yours.



.....What douche bags.