13025: from fumnwa Re: 12024: Haitian Family Day Scam said not to be a scam at all

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: FumNwa@aol.com

my people -
funny - yesterday, i said that i would be content just being a fly on the wall of this list, but i couldnt resist.  why must we always be so quick to judge. . .follwing that, why dont we ever try to get all the facts. . .following that, why dont we ever try to play devils advocate?  dont we all deserve the benefit of the doubt??  we all know there are plenty of people trying to keep us haitians down. . .why dont they ever get blamed in situations like this?  do we always have to so vehemently blame ourselves?  as someone who bought tickets in advance for this event, and had people from canada come to participate, i too was quite annoyed and disapointed at the whole thing.  but rumors will not help.  my suggestion (just a suggestion folks) get the facts before your criticize.  then if the party is wrong, by all means, blame them.  below is a letter sent by the organizers.  its their side, and should be taken into consideration.  not to say they have no blame, but i just wish we would not be so quick to jump on each others back.
peace
fumnwa
---------
HAFAD PRESS RELEASE


The dream lives on....
August 31, 2002, was projected to be the birthday of HAFAD, the annual

 Haitian Family Day picnic.  After months of planning and intense
 advertising to reach Haitians from all over the world, the event that was
 projected to the greatest nationalistic reunion of Haitians from all
 social classes and generations was not to be.

 We want to take this moment to extend our sincere apologies, explain to
 all the circumstances behind the cancellation by the owners of the park,
 and our plans for the future since we Haitians do not accept defeat, and
 in the face of defeat we rise to even bigger and greater things.

 We extend our sincere apologies to the 10,000 to 15,000 people who
 converged on Belmont park throughout the day only to find the gates of
 the park closed, while hundreds of cars and thousands of people lined up
 the street with high expectation that the event will take place. Again we
 apologize to all Haitians that an event that was so well planned and
 awaited with such anticipation did not take place due to circumstances
 beyond our control in the final hours.

 Here is our explanation: On March 23, 2002, we received a letter from
 NYRA (New York Racing Association) that the Belmont park facility has
 been reserved for RockMasters Entertainment for the purpose of holding
 the "Haitian Family Day" (HAFAD) on August 31, 2002, pending receipt of a
 $3,000 retainer.  On early April, the check for $3,000 was mailed to
 NYRA, securing the date for the event. At this point we started our
 promotion campaign trying to reach Haitians from all 4 corners of the
 globe. Within a couple of weeks, we started calling NYRA requesting they
 send us the terms of the contract for review and signing. Each time we
 called, we were told that their lawyers were busy in litigation and would
 send it the following week. Well, weeks, then months went by and we still
 could not get our hands on the contract. We then went ahead and secured
 liability insurance using the terms of prior contracts with NYRA as
 examples. After continuously chasing them for the contract, we finally
 got the draft just 1 week prior to the event.  After intense negotiations
 on the payment terms and other items, we got an appointment for late,
 August 29, just 2 days before the event, to sign the contract. At this
 time we were informed that one of the liability insurance requirement
 ($1,000,000 automobile liability) was not met by our insurance policy and
 that we had to correct it.  The next morning we went to our broker who
 informed us that the insurance companies she deals with no longer provide
 this type of coverage. After hours of research and negotiations between
 NYRA and our broker the issue could not be resolved.  Finally we were put
 in touch with an NYRA broker to work with us and our broker on the issue
 as it was getting late and all insurance companies were getting ready to
 close for the holiday weekend. Finally we got an offer from the NYRA
 broker to settle the issue.  If we could come up with $15,000 in premium,
 he can have an underwriter provide us the required coverage.  At this
 point we were willing to spend anything, even use our personal properties
 as collateral to guarantee that the event takes place.  Keeping our
 promise to the Haitian people at any cost was the only thing that
 counted.  Late on Friday, we told the NYRA lawyer that we had secured the
 fund.  We were told that we would be contacted on early Saturday morning
 for instructions on how to proceed.  At this point we figured that the
 issue was set and the show will go on.

 Early Saturday morning, we headed for the park and started to contact
 NYRA but could not get in touch with anyone. We left messages and got no
 response.  We talked to the security personnel who told us that they were
 instructed to cancel the event.  Hours went by and no contact could be
 made with anyone in the office, which indicated to us that they no longer
 wished to pursue the last option.

 With the crowd growing by the hour into thousands of disappointed but
 proud Haitians, we finally had no choice but to call the event officially
 canceled sometimes around noon. It was a very emotional moment for
 everyone as a day with such high expectations ended with such
 disappointment. It was reported that until 6:30PM there were still people
 hanging around the park. Haitians did come from all over the world as we
 had asked them to do. They responded to our calls for unity beyond our
 expectations. There were tour buses from Boston, Philadelphia, Canada,
 Upstate, NY, and vans from all areas of the US. People had flown from
 Haiti, Europe, Miami, etc.

Where do we go from here?

 The answer is simple "HAFAD2003".  As our friend F. Cherry reminds us of
 John F. Kennedy's words "A man may die, nations rise and fall, but an
 idea lives on ," and our dream will live on. We may have lost one fight,
 but we will win the war.  We have been getting many words of support and
 encouragement, and we thank those who sent us hundreds of e-mails
 complementing us for the initiative, the work we've done and encouraging
 us rebound and give them HAFAD2003.

 Even though we feel that the NYRA could have been more corporative, We do
 accept some blame in the outcome, as in hindsight there are things we
 could have done differently and will do differently the next time. One
 is, hiring a lawyer to handle the contract process. He would have been
 more successful in getting the contract earlier from the NYRA's lawyer,
 and most likely would have seen the flaw in our policy.

A special thank you and recognition to all the vendors, sponsors, artists
 and performers who gave their time, commitment, and incurred expenses to
 participate and support the program.

 TICKETS REFUND: All advanced purchase tickets will be refunded in full.
 Please go to the location or the person who sold it to you. If you are
 from out of state or do not know who sold you the ticket, you can hold it
 for next year.  All non refunded tickets will be valid for HAFAD2003.

 VENDORS: All vendors will hear from us within a week. If you wish, you
 may contact the person you drew up the contract with for refund or credit
 of your permit fee.

 We thank you for your enthusiasm and support. WE PROMISE YOU THAT
 HAFAD2003 WILL BE EVEN BIGGER, AND BETTER AND THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE NO
 MISTAKE, NO CANCELLATION.

 We want to end by extending our apologies for a third time and look
 forward for "HAFAD2003, the proof of resilience and solidarity."
 The one last thing we will ask you to do for us is to forward this e-mail
 to every Haitian that you know and specially to anyone who made the trip
 to HAFAD2002.  Please DO.


******* THE DREAM LIVES ON *******


Sincerely,
Jean Claude Elie RockMasters Entertainment For the HAFAD Picnic committee