Local Board Members React to Haiti Nonprofit CEO Defamation Case

By Laura Kebede
Richmond Times-Dispatch
August 5, 2015

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_f6a48a97-a242-579d-af2e-4d49f50cec31.html

Richmond-area board members of a North Carolina-based nonprofit that does work in Haiti celebrated a recent verdict which they said symbolically exonerated executive director Michael Geilenfeld from accusations of child molestation.

Paul Kendrick, a Maine activist for sexual abuse victims, was ordered to pay $14.5 million to Geilenfeld and the charity after leading a four-year email campaign to hundreds of donors perpetuating false accusations, The Associated Press reported.

The trial in Maine included testimony of Willie Dell, a former Richmond councilwoman and longtime friend of the nonprofit, on the executive director’s behalf, as well as seven Haitian men who claimed Geilenfeld sexually abused them while at St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince.

Three of the 11 board members for Hearts with Haiti live in the Richmond area, and several churches in the area frequently send volunteers to the organization’s Wings of Hope home for children with disabilities, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys and Trinity House for program graduates’ business startups.

“I saw Michael as a very caring person … who was about saving the children, as many as he could,” said Dell, who first visited the home in 1986 and then up to twice per year since. “He determined they were going to be a family and live as a family.”

Three of the accusers never lived at the home and the others never exhibited signs of abuse, Dell said. Board member Brenda Halbrooks, pastor at Three Chopt Presbyterian Church, said the verdict affirmed the integrity of the organization and ministry.

“We’re just thrilled with the verdict,” Halbrooks said. “The lawsuit was never about vengeance but about the damage to the organization.”

The accusations first came in the 1980s, Dell said, but each time they resurfaced, investigations by Haitian and U.S. officials and a private investigator hired by the nonprofit’s board found the claims to be unsubstantiated.

The jury awarded $7.5 million to Hearts with Haiti, which included $5 million in what the organization deemed to be a decrease in donations since Kendrick started his sometimes-daily email blast that personally attacked Geilenfeld and the board members for continuing to support him and accused Dell of selling drugs and participating in sexual acts with the boys. Geilenfeld was awarded $7 million.

At least a portion of the damages will be paid for by Kendrick’s homeowners insurance, according to The Associated Press, but the full amount is not guaranteed to the organization.

Alan Stone, board vice president and a Richmond businessman, described Kendrick as a “tortured individual.” The board filed the defamation suit in 2013 to halt the disruption.

“It’s virtually been our sole focus,” Stone said, adding that the drop in donations meant a cutback in services for the children. “It was very worrisome. … These are people who can’t take care of themselves at all.”

St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, which takes in former child slaves and street kids, was shut down following Geilenfeld’s detainment in Haiti in September and reopened for those 18 and older in mid-May following his release. The organization still is working with the country’s social services department to allow younger boys to re-enter care at the home, Stone said.

During the trial, Geilenfeld contended he was falsely accused because he was a gay man in a nation he described as homophobic, The Associated Press reported.

Board member Laura Wright was first at the home during the 2010 earthquake that ravaged the capital. When young men from the home visited Richmond for a dance tour after the accusations resurfaced, Wright said the Haitian men made a point to share their experiences while living at St. Joseph’s Home for Boys and denounced the accusations against Geilenfeld.

“It’s not an orphanage. It’s a home. They are brothers,” Wright said. “None of us would have allowed this to go on if it were true.”

Following Geilenfeld’s experience in the Haitian prison without charges being filed against him, the organization plans to launch a prison ministry.

“We all prayed daily for Michael and Paul Kendrick. …There’s just so many ways that good things have come out of what was meant for evil,” said Halbrooks, Three Chopt Presbyterian’s pastor. The verdict “is a symbol of justice and innocence and gives us the opportunity to move forward.”

Contact: Lkebede@timesdispatch.com