I am not angry at Pepsi or Global Giving. I understand that as business entities neither of you have done anything illegal and that the administration of the grants disbursed by your Pepsi Refresh Everything Project has been done according to the predetermined plan. I am disappointed in both of you because I feel you allowed someone to manipulate your program to gain the materials and equipment to increase the number of puppies they sell online; all of this done in the name of helping autistic children. And when the concerns were brought to your attention they were ignored. It was as if your program were infallible. Does that really hold true to the Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles of your companies?
OK, so you apply for a grant from Pepsi as an individual (although I would venture to say that you had to do so because your “organization” is not legally a legitimate organization) Then on your Facebook page where you’ve asked the rest of the world to Vote for your idea at Pepsi Refresh – why do you make it sound like “Animals for Autism” has applied. You never once said “The founder of Animals for Autism, Lea Kaydus, has applied for a grant from the Pepsi…”
And then, why did you issue press releases as “Animals for Autism” stating that you had received your Pepsi grant and would be using the grant to place free autism service animals? Especially since you already knew that this had changed because Global Giving wanted something more tangible to be able to measure your progress toward goal completion. Why did you not once mention this to those supporting you.
Where did your entire support system go? You know, the volunteers and donors who supply you with vaccinations and microchipping, puppy foster parents, supplies like food, leashes, collars, harnesses and dens. That is how you claim to only need the training fees to be covered by the applicant families. And if you knew this was not the case this time, why did you not include pet food, those other essential supplies and registration with local authorities for the pups, maybe even collars with name tags on them to allow you to visually differentiate the pups? Instead you chose automatic feeding systems (10 of them) so that the pups could be automatically fed in their kennels. Which family needs a pup trained to get its food from an automatic feeding system? Why would it be needed initially if the pups are with the foster puppy raisers? Almost sounds like you were wanting to use this almost as an assembly line to get your pups out there in quantity. How did your budget of $25,000 disappear so fast.
Did you spend it all on the construction of the “new facility”? From the outside it appears to be an add-on to the larger steel barn. It almost looks like your standard RV garage. I’m almost positive as prior owners of your own trenching and excavating company, you probably still have some contacts in the field. Why would you say that you “purchased” your new property when you are merely relocating your facility to land owned by your husband’s family. Why do you respond to every new person who posts on your Facebook wall asking how to acquire a service animal with “Feel free to email *********.yahoo.com for application information.” but refuse to reply to the families currently in your program. Why do you insist on deleting legitimate questions posted on your wall?
Why would you not leave a forwarding address with the Post Office? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you have received requests for explanations from the Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, Navy Legal, and I am sure others at your current address. How are your clients supposed to be able to find/contact you? You tell everyone who asks for information on your Facebook page to email you and yet claim to not have internet access for extended periods of time at frequent intervals. How did your daughter update her Facebook profile so often while you did not have internet access? Who posted the ads on PuppyFind.com for the Siberian Puppies on your behalf? What about the eBay auction that seems to be continuously renewed?
Recently Animals for Autism founder, Lea Kaydus, was asked by a reporter from WICS – Springfield for information pertaining to the concerns with her program. [She declined an on-camera interview with the explanation that it was not allowed by Pepsi] She informed the reporter that all was well with the program and that the puppies would be delivered on time as promised. That is very contradictory to the information received by one of the families in the program. This family was told that the puppies were in emergency shelters since she did not have the money to feed them. She also told another person who had called inquiring about a service dog training program that her program was on hold due to lack of funds, the puppies were in emergency shelters and had not yet begun training and that it would be 18 months after she was able to get them back before they would be able to be delivered. So which is it? You claim on your Facebook page that all is well, why was there no mention of emergency shelters and lack of funds for food?
Lots of questions and very few good answers.