SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Women’s advocate wins trust battle for charitable status

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The Manawatu Standard (20 April) reports:

Palmerston North women’s advocate Barbara Arnold has led the National Council of Women of New Zealand [NCWNZ] to victory in the battle to get reinstated as a charitable trust.  [As of 6 May NCWNZ has yet to receive the full decision of the Charities Registration Board/Department of Internal Affairs, setting out the reasons and the grounds for the reasons for the reinstatement]

The council, established 117 years ago to empower women, family and the community, was deregistered by the Charities Commission in 2010 after a review of the Charities Act.

Ms Arnold, the national president, said it has taken 32 months of hard work and considerable anxiety to have that decision reversed.

“We always knew the commission’s original decision was wrong,” she said.

“The fact the council was alone among other national councils of women throughout the world in being a non-registered charity was a telling factor in itself.”

Ms Arnold said the work involved in overturning the decision was significant and could be common among other not-for-profit groups.

“We feel for other charities which may be forced to accept an adverse decision because they do not have the resources to challenge it,” she said. “We need to ask as a community whether the system we have in place for challenging decisions of the charities regulator is working for us as a country.

“The decision puts the council back where it belongs as a registered charitable entity and allows us to get on with what we have been doing for over a hundred years and what we aim to continue doing for many more.”

Source

Women’s advocate wins trust battle

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/8576018/Womens-advocate-wins-trust-battle

Teachers should discuss porn to prepare children for adulthood says school watchdog

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The Daily Mail (2/05/13) reports: Secondary schools should prepare children for adulthood by focusing on pornography, sex abuse and homosexuality, the schools watchdog has said.

Too much time is being spent on the ‘mechanics’ of reproduction and not on ‘controversial issues’, according to Ofsted.

Children are being left at risk of exploitation and inappropriate behaviour because they are learning about contraception, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases but not ‘sexual content and the influence of pornography’.

Read more:

Teachers should discuss porn in lessons to prepare children for adulthood say schools watchdog

Article by Andrew Levy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318079/Porn-lessons-Teachers-discuss-porn-lessons-prepare-children-adulthood-say-schools-watchdog.html#ixzz2SC4eRJLf

Number of HIV infections among young MSM rise dramatically 2008-2010

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For males who have sex with males, or MSM, “The number of new [HIV] infections among the youngest MSM (aged 13-24) increased 22 percent, from 7,200 infections in 2008 to 8,800 in 2010,” reported the Centres for Disease Control.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/2012/HIV-Infections-2007-2010.pdf

[Linda Harvey asks]

“Could the increase be related to the increasing promotion of homosexual sex to boys?”

 http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/are-boy-scouts-buying-gay-child-myth/#DTlPZYfIf6YZ6Wvq.99

And if that isn’t sobering enough, another recent Centers for Disease Control study reveals that teens who call themselves homosexual or bisexual report much higher levels of risky behaviour compared to heterosexual teens.

See: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6007a1.htm?s_cid=ss6007a1_w

The study came from surveys given from 2001 to 2009 in seven states and six major cities. These teens were found to be more likely to engage in seven out of 10 risk behavior categories. Of note to the Boy Scouts might be the finding that these “gay, bisexual and questioning” youth were much more likely to report having had sexual intercourse before age 13, as well as having had more than four sex partners, compared to students who identified as heterosexual.

References:

CDC Fact Sheet (Dec. 2012): “New HIV infections in the United States”:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/2012/HIV-Infections-2007-2010.pdf

CDC (2011) report on “Sexual Identity…and Health-Risk Behaviors among Students” (see Table 55):

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6007.pdf

SOURCE ARTICLE:

http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/are-boy-scouts-buying-gay-child-myth/#DTlPZYfIf6YZ6Wvq.99

No fast-tracking to become charity for Just Zilch

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Just Zilch’s application to become a charity will not be fast-tracked despite an “overwhelming” response to news they are on desperate street.

The free food store’s management has been fighting to make it a charitable trust for the past 18 months, but have been hamstrung because they cannot prove they are only helping people in poverty.

Without access to the funding options available to registered charities, Just Zilch management has warned it might have to close its doors in three months.

Charities Services general manager Brendon Ward said they had been assisting Just Zilch but they had not yet been able to accept the applications because of the vagaries of the documents they had received.

“We try to provide a service that helps people through their applications but we can only do so much; we can’t write the application for them.”

Wording was important and they could not just accept an organisation was a charity because the vibe of it was good, he said.

“The integrity of the register is really important.

“We want the public to have trust and faith in the organisations we consider charities and so it’s not uncommon for us to go back to people applying once or twice.

“We do need to take our time to ensure we make the right decision.

“That decision has to be based on the organisation’s application and on the 400 years of case law that has gone before it.”

Mr Ward said Just Zilch’s 18 month battle was “not an ordinary case” as it had been hampered by the timing of Charities Services – formerly the Charities Commission – merger with the Department of Internal Affairs.

For more on the story go to:

Story by Chris Hyde. 27 April 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/8603999/No-fast-tracking-for-Just-Zilch

Poor Show to cast doubt on charity – Editorial: Manawatu Standard

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OPINION: Poverty by Rob Mitchell – Acting Editor 24 April 2013

There are few words in the modern New Zealand lexicon that stimulate quite as much debate or polarise the populace as dramatically as this one.

It appears that you either believe in its existence or you do not; there is little middle ground, little stable footing from which to mount a reasoned argument. It’s black and white. End of story. At least until the next round of statistics are released.

Critics who argue against the existence of poverty usually point to what they claim is a dearth of evidence supporting the contention. They point to disturbing images of bloated, malnourished African children too weak to bat away the many flies as a major plank in their own cross-examination.

That is poverty, they say, and nothing like that exists in this country.

That may be true, but like most points of reference when comparing our country with others, everything is relative. Including poverty.

And while we have a safety net to help ensure that pictures of hungry, dying children remain a distant, foreign concern, there are people who are struggling in this country. Some of them quite badly.

And the evidence is there. In Palmerston North it is displayed for all to see just metres from the city’s expansive, pleasant Square.

It wraps around the walls of two buildings leading to an outlet where free food is dispensed to all who need it.

Some of those waiting in line at Just Zilch are likely not as desperate as others, but it is clear that the great majority of these people share a ragged and threadbare coat of desperation and deprivation.

Whether it’s their own fault or they are victims of circumstances beyond their control, most of these people badly need the support of organisations such as Just Zilch.

The service this organisation delivers for its community is both honourable and charitable. That a funding body would deny its status as a charity is most definitely dishonourable. And that its main reason for doing so is Just Zilch’s refusal to discriminate is bizarre and disturbing.

There is a poverty of morality and logic in not supporting Just Zilch’s good works: it takes food deemed surplus to requirements and helps to feed those struggling to look after themselves. And it also keeps a lid on shoplifting and petty crime, a point made by those on the line.

Possibly even more importantly, it provides very public, albeit challenging, evidence that poverty of a sort does exist in this country.

It’s black and white. End of story.

Source: Fairfax NZ News

OPINION: Poverty by Rob Mitchell – Acting Editor

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/8590870/Editorial-Poor-show-to-cast-doubt-on-charity