Support the Troops, Huh?

In 2007, the Worcester Wreath Company had a problem.  They had just lost their contract with L.L. Bean, who had previously been responsible for 90% of their sales.

Their solution was to create a 501(C)3 charity, Wreaths Across America, and then use this charity to aggressively solicit people to put wreaths on dead soldiers graves.

The thing is, Wreaths Across America only buys from the Worcester Wreath Company, and as such, their prices are not what one would call competitive.

The technical term for this is self-dealing, and if the appropriate regulators executed their duties as they are supposed to, this would result in a loss of charity status or perhaps jail time.

Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that places wreaths on the graves of military veterans. It's a simple gesture that has proven popular. Wreaths Across America placed 33,000 wreaths in 2007, its first year. This year, the organization expects to place 2.9 million wreaths at 4,225 cemeteries across all 50 states, a spokesperson for the organization tells Popular Information.

According to Wreaths Across America, wreath-laying is a "simple act of gratitude" that "brings together communities and supports local veterans and military families." But while the wreaths provide symbolic support for veterans and military families, the overwhelming majority of the over $30 million raised in the fiscal year that ended in June 2022 goes to Worcester Wreath Company, which produces the wreaths.

Wreaths Across America was founded in 2007 by members of the Worcester family, owners of the Worcester Wreath Company. The creation of the Wreaths Across America occurred around the same time that Worcester Wreath Company lost its contract with L.L. Bean, which accounted for 90% of Worcester Resources' wreath sales. Rob Worcester, a co-owner of Worcester Wreath Company, said that the loss of L.L. Bean's business following a legal dispute left the firm "in dire straights." The wreath-laying charity, he said, "allowed us to get our feet back under us." Rob Worcester's wife is a member of the Wreaths Across America board.

Nothing fishy here:

In fiscal year 2022, $20,605,527 of the money raised by Wreaths Across America went directly to Worcester Wreath Company. Most of the rest of the funds went to marketing, overhead, and staff salaries.

………

Beginning in 2017, Wreaths Across America began soliciting a "request for proposals" (RFP) every three years to supply wreaths. Several members of the non-profit board who are also employees of Worcester Wreath Company, along with Karen Worchester, are formally recused from this process. This, Wreaths Across America says, ensures that "Wreaths Across America receives the most advantageous terms in it's [sic] purchase of wreaths to further it's [sic] charitable purpose."

But for the first RFP, Worcester Wreath Company was the only company that submitted a proposal. "We have certain standards that we look for and for other [companies] to follow that would be difficult,” board chair Wayne Hanson said. Worcester Wreath Company has also won all subsequent RFPs.

But wait, there's more, it appears that Worcester Wreath Company has a dangerous workplace:

………

The Worcester Wreath Company also has a record of workplace safety and labor violations. In May 2022, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the company $11,500 in connection with a COVID outbreak that left one employee dead and more than 80 workers sick.

According to records obtained by the Maine Monitor, the company failed to report the wreath worker’s death to OSHA within the required eight hours. It also did not “conduct contact tracing to determine who she had been in contact with.” In addition, an OSHA investigator found that–even after the outbreak–the company refused to enforce its mask policy “despite the CDC’s warnings and guidance regarding the usage of masks in close quarters.” The official concluded that the company’s response was “an act of simple indifference” and pointed out that Worcester Wreath Company had received prior citations in 2017 and 2019 for “failing to maintain illness and injury records.”

“This standard has always been a very-back burner issue for the employer as seen in its prior violations and in the manner it has dealt with the citations with OSHA,” the official wrote.

Worcester Wreath Company received reporting violations again in 2023. In March and April, OSHA imposed $24,000 in penalties against Worcester Wreath for “two reporting violations.” The bulk of this amount, about $22,000, was for “failing to publicly post a report on work-related injuries and illnesses earlier this year” the Maine Monitor reports. Similar to the COVID penalty, this incident was deemed a “willful violation,” meaning that investigators found that the company was acting with “purposeful disregard” or “plain indifference.”

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor ordered the company to pay “$55,654.16 in back wages to 95 employees” to resolve overtime violations. The same year, seasonal migrant workers at the company have also claimed that they were subject to “repeated sexual harassment by a crew boss contracted by Worcester Wreath Company.” The workers allege they were fired and kicked out of employer-owned housing for raising these concerns.

It appears that the Fox News darlings, both Karen and Morrill Worcester are regularly on the cable network, have been using public money, 501(C)3 donations (including the wreath purchases) are tax deductible as a marketing tactic for their own for profit purposes.

In the non-profit world, this is supposed to be a, "No-No."

It isn't, one only need to look at the the supposedly non-profit charter schools set up around the country, or the various foundations set up by silly-con valley tech bros.

The unwillingness of the IRS and the DoJ to pursue this sort of fraud is a real and serious prob lem.