More ‘quilt gate’

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To the Editor:

Thank you for your thoughtful Editorial about Roger Wey [Editorial: Discord is in Oak Bluffs DNA, March 19].  I received an email from a former Oak Bluffs town hall employee, who wrote after reading it.

He said: “One thing I wondered was who trained Roger when he started? It may be that nobody ever told him of some of the procedures he was to follow. I mean, my training in a town of Oak Bluffs job sure was scant.”

I only read the whole report of the March 17 selectmen’s meeting yesterday. I have to work up my courage to read a little more of it each day.

The accountant said “$24,000 went through my quilt fund account since 2007.” Well, $4,400 is in the account today. That means I have disbursed $20,000 to fuel companies, or medical entities, like respiratory therapy, wheelchair repairs, a pharmacy for a prescription, etc., etc.

If I were continuing to collect and disburse funds through our Quilt Fund, I would change the name because we obviously do more than fuel assistance. There was a good article in MV Patch recently about the Salvation Army. They were pleading for money for MV citizens. They stated there is a desperate need for fuel assistance on the Island, and that state and other avenues of help cannot meet the demand.

We will probably limit ourselves now to donating our quilts to Father Rob at Grace Church, to distribute to the homeless, and to the Red Stocking Fund for the children at Christmas. We have been doing that regularly anyway.

I would be happy to let anyone see my red notebook, which documents everything coming in and where it comes from. And everything going out and where it goes.  We have had many donations of $500 and $600, from individuals who believe our fund is a safe conduit to help those in need. And it is.

And I repeat, this is not town money. If, by meeting at the Senior Center, it gives the town the idea that it is, we will no longer meet there.

We are currently meeting in each other’s homes. In the summer, when our numbers grow to 15 or 16 members, we will find a church hall or some other place for our twice weekly meetings. I thought of the Oak Bluffs Public Library, but no, obviously not. That is a town building.

We are interested to see that a quilter called the police. We have narrowed it down to two possible suspects. Everybody knows who the friend coaching her is. If that quilter had attended regularly, she would have seen the red notebook and would have known exactly where all the quilt money goes.

I will try to make this my last letter to the editor. But no guarantees.

Glenna Barkan

Chairman

Quilt Fund for Fuel (and other) Assistance

Oak Bluffs