FORSETH: Maybe it’s just me, and I’m tilting at windmills, but this doesn’t seems like a good start to this new organization

 

 

IT SEEMS LIKE Bill Miller is having a hard time following instructions.

Who is Bill Miller you ask? Well, he is the former Executive Director of the Kamloops branch of Habitat For Human, a branch which the National organization disaffiliated themselves from on October 13th, 2022.

A news story in Kamloops This Week (October 19th, 2022) reported that:
 

Privately selling homes and a lack of financial transparency were among the reasons Habitat for Humanity Canada cited for stripping the Kamloops non-profit branch of its affiliation with the national organization.

Habitat Canada is providing more details over its decision to disaffiliate Habitat for Humanity Kamloops, which was effective as of Oct. 13.

The decision means Habitat Kamloops can no longer use that brand and must remove the name and logo from all of its social media accounts, advertising and other assets. As of Tuesday, they remained on Habitat Kamloops’ website and Facebook pages.

That seems pretty straight-forward to me ... disaffiliated ... and ... no longer use the name and logo (of Habitat For Humanity).

And yet, at the end of April an organization calling itself the Attainable Housing Development Society (AHDS), which according to their website is led by CEO of Project Development Bill Miller, sent out a mailer with an envelope using the Habitat For Humanity Kamloops logo – this despite, as noted above, being ordered not to do so.

The former Kamloops branch of Habitat for Humanity, led by Bill Miller, seemed to have been mired in a number of issues prior to being disaffiliated by the national organization – I won’t list them all here, however, a simple Google search will bring them up for you (just click the 'News' tab). That is why there are several things that bother me about this whole situation.

Despite being ordered not to do so, AHDS sent out a mailer in a Habitat for Humanity logo’d envelope, which included lettering about the ‘Annual Classic Car Raffle’.

So how did they have my personal address to send this too?  It was because they had me on a mailing list for people who had previously purchased a Classic Car Raffle lottery ticket.

That list would have been the property of Habitat For Humanity – NOT the Attainable Housing Development Society.  

I object to that as I did not give permission for them to keep and/or maintain my contact information.

As well, inside the mailing was a promo piece for this new society which stated:

“We are excited to announce that we have changed our name to Attainable Housing Development Society.  With our new name and image, we are renewing our commitment to providing attainable housing to communities through-out BC”.

It would seem to me that given the old Kamloops branch of Habitat For Humanity was ordered to cease using the national name, and material, OVER a year and a half ago, they didn’t in fact change their name ... Habitat was NO LONGER their name to use, or change from.

Would that in fact then not be disingenuous or lacking in candor?

Merriam Webster says a ... disingenuous remark might contain some superficial truth, but it is delivered with the intent to deceive or to serve some hidden purpose.

Do you think that description fits?

I know that a Kamloops reporter reached out to Habitat For Humanity as I provided them with the information on this situation. This was confirmed by Sarah Varley (Vice President, Communications & Partnerships, Habitat for Humanity Canada) who told me by email that they had told the reporter that:

“... we confirmed that Habitat for Humanity Kamloops was disaffiliated effective October 13, 2022, and required to remove all Habitat branding from all channels, property and other assets. They have been repeatedly advised not to use the Habitat brand and we are surprised to hear that they would be inappropriately using this letterhead."
 
She went on to say, “We appreciate you making us aware of this situation and we will be following up with them to request that they cease using the Habitat brand in their mailings and all other communications immediately. If you haven’t already done so, we recommend that you ask them to remove you from their mailing list.”

I called the number for the Attainable Housing Development Society today to ask why I had received their mailer, and indeed I was told it was because I had previously purchased a Habitat For Humanity Kamloops car raffle ticket.

I also asked why they were saying the had changed their name ... and why they were using a Habitat For Humanity mailing list ... AND ... why they were still using the Habitat For Humanity logo they had been ordered to no longer use.

The lady I spoke with said I was just misunderstanding things.

I don’t in fact think I misunderstood anything.

Maybe it’s just me, and I’m tilting at windmills, but this doesn’t seems like a good start to this new organization ... and I certainly won’t be buying one of their tickets for their new home raffle, which they are now advertising for, and promoting on their website.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth.