More than half the members of the City Council have fired off a letter to Walmart demanding that it stop making millions in charitable contributions to local groups here.
“Stop spending your dangerous dollars in our city,” the testy letter demands. “That’s right: this is a cease-and-desist letter.”
Last week, Walmart announced that it distributed $3 million last year to charities here, including $1 million to the New York Women’s Foundation, which offers job training, and $30,000 to Bailey House, which distributes groceries to low-income residents.
The letter came days after Walmart announced it had given $3 million to New York City groups, including City Harvest and One Hundred Black Men, out of a total of $1.2 billion to non-profits nationally.
But Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called the donations “toxic money,” and accused Walmart of waging a “cynical public-relations campaign that disguises Walmart’s backwards anti-job agenda.”
Charities however are much less enthusiastic about Melissa Mark-Vivertio’s crusade against charity.
Joel Berg, who heads the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which this year collected $800,000 from Walmart – the coalition’s single largest private donation – said he had no intention of giving the money back.
“I don’t think there’s a single non-profit group in America, or a single elected official in America, who agrees with every position of every donor,” he said.
“We have had it, our constituents have had it and everyone we know in this city has had it with [Walmart],” said ringleader Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), who took political correctness to the extreme by calling on charities to return the company’s contributions.
“We have had it, our constituents have had it and everyone we know in this city has had it with [Walmart],” said ringleader Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), who took political correctness to the extreme by calling on charities to return the company’s contributions.
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