Bethany Place Bethany Place Merismos Ministries Lying to community and donors for personal financial gain- fraud about community impact and service numbers Canton GA

Bethany place is a home for women and children in canton, Georgia. They claim to help thousands of women over 30 years and helps them to get off the welfare system. In the last years, evidence was revealed that the director Sandy Reed was lying to foundations, churches and donors about the number of people in their program. Sandy was caught fabricating numbers in reports to show more of an impact. Sandy claimed to have had 15 women and children actively in the program, but only had 5

1. In the past, she has applied for grants to complete specific projects and repairs at her ministry. Once she gets funding, she never completes the repairs and keeps the money.

2. She claims to not receive any government funding, but once a woman enters her program, she has them collect welfare benefits and food stamps. This is really sad considering that she claims that her ministry provides for all of the financial needs of the women in the program and she teaches them to become independent and not rely on the welfare system... but that's exactly what she does.

3. During the holidays, she contacts her biggest donors and claims that the person who agreed to provide presents for the women and children backed down and pleads for the donors support... She never tells her donors that she's asked other donors to help and makes them believe that they were the only person that provided christmas gifts.

Do not donate money to this fraudulent charity! There are several reliable charities that actually DO help people in need.