TX-Equusearch Running out of Funds

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petra

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I don't know if this is the correct place to start this thread. If not, I trust the moderators will move it. Thanks.

Considering all the good work Equusearch does on behalf of missing persons I thought I should post this article.

EQUUSEARCH IS RUNNING OUT OF FUNDS-FUTURE IN QUESTION

http://www.click2houston.com/news/5556298/detail.html
 
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Video: Texas EquuSearch Finds Body



EquuSearch Running Out Of Money

Founder: Families Need Closure

POSTED: 4:55 pm CST December 16, 2005
UPDATED: 5:26 pm CST December 16, 2005


HOUSTON -- A search group that is often the first call for help for those who have missing loved ones is worried about its future. Texas EquuSearch said Friday it is operating at a deficit of $60,000, KPRC Local 2 reported.

The non-profit group has conducted 107 searches for missing people this year.

The most recent case was solved Thursday when searchers found the body of 12-year-old Teketria Buggs in the Brazos River. She had been missing since Dec. 2.

EquuSearch's founder, Tim Miller, said it's a hard job, but it needs to be done.

"There's one thing worse than having a murdered child or loved one, and that's probably knowing they're dead someplace and never being able to say good-bye. It's totally impossible for these families to go through a healing process until they know," Miller said.

​

Texas EquuSearch Founder Tim Miller



Miller knows that grief firsthand -- his daughter, Laura, was murdered and missing for 17 months until her body was found.

Searches can be expensive operations, including sonar equipment that costs thousands of dollars to rent for water searches.

Police credit the group's dedication in finding missing people.

"There's no way to calculate the importance of it. It's very critical," said Craig Brady, with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department


*****************************SNIP*******************
 
Those searches are extremely expensive. For some reason, people do not think of the missing persons NPO's in their charitable giving. Everyone says "You do such good work." but the compliments do not pay the bills nor allow goals to be met.
 
i know where my charity money will be given to this year.....
 
Many of the volunteers with TE are very good, warm hearted, caring and compassionate people. That being said, They suffer from poor search organization. As one who has volunteered with them, I know they mean well, but they have not concept of an Incident Command structure nor do they do a good job of documenting what they have done and where they have searched. Efforts on several fronts to correct this problem have gone by the wayside. Many local bonafied search and rescue organizations in Texas will not work with them for this reason.

I have seen way too much money spent on doing things which were unwarranted and non productive. Tim has spent way too much time in front of TV cameras and microphones and not paying attention to commanding the search effort. Quite often he is impossible to find when an important decision needs to be made because he is off to an interview somewhere. He justifies this by saying "The media exposure helps us to get donations." Yes, money is needed, but when you are up to your eyebrows in a search, that is where your focus should be and not on trying to raise money.
I find it not a coincidence that they are reporting they are in financial trouble so soon after the successful search this week.
 
As with the Red Cross and many non-profit agencies that help those in need, they have been slow in raising funds this year. I heard the Red Cross lady on TV this morning state that it was likely due to all the natural catastrophies this year. Thy have all been pulling in less money, although she said it is starting to get back on track now.

I think this is a standard way to reach those who donate when the donations are slow. And I also think one of Tims jobs is to make the public aware of what they do and how succesful they are and there is a definite need for this group. That spurs ppeople to take out their checkbooks.

Why is Tim any different than say the United Way. They have big dinners with a huge price per person to raise money. And we don't even hear much about what they really do. I know they are very effective and in Portland they concentrate on wayward teens and get them on track to get a job and keep it! So much of a non-profit group hinges on their PR.


Scandi
 
scandi said:
Why is Tim any different than say the United Way.

Scandi
Click to expand...
Scandi, I was just trying to point out that Tim has a poor record in his ability to organize and carry out a search. He has spent way too much money doing things that did not further the search effort one iota. If you have limited funds, you MUST be sure those funds are spent in a productive manner.

Tim's strategy is a shotgun approach. He does not focus on doing things that are the most likely to produce a successful outcome. This causes a lot of money to be spent foolishly. If you have unlimited funding - fine. He does not. Therefore he has overspent. Because of that, I have not asked for reimbursement of several hundred dollars I have spent on their behalf.
 
mysteriew said:
. . .Red Cross has an excellent PR dept. Unfortunately, they have many other problems in the dept.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mysteriew, I thought it was back on track after the problems it had after Sept 11th. Is Marsh Evans the gal hired by the government to design those great commercials to bring people back into NYC?

Hi Smedley, I am not as informed as you are about this and understand what you are saying. Tim is one of those 'giving' personalities as opposed to an organizer I guess. He did have angioplasty surgery around Thanksgiving and I guess the one thing I can say for him is his heart is golden and in the right place. He maybe need an organization person. Right? LOL

Thanks to you both. :blowkiss: Scandi
 
scandi said:
He maybe need an organization person. Right? LOL

Thanks to you both. :blowkiss: Scandi
Click to expand...
Tim needs more than just an "organization" person. He needs someone well versed in search theory - how to organize and conduct a search. You don't just send a bunch of people out wandering around hoping to stumble upon something. The searchers need to to trained in how to search. It is not a good idea to have John or Jane Doe walk in off the street and expect them to be qualified to search.
 
We don't do search, but based on what I do know about it, KlaasKids has an excellent search team and are very thorough. FYI
 
Smedley said:
Tim needs more than just an "organization" person. He needs someone well versed in search theory - how to organize and conduct a search. You don't just send a bunch of people out wandering around hoping to stumble upon something. The searchers need to to trained in how to search. It is not a good idea to have John or Jane Doe walk in off the street and expect them to be qualified to search.
Click to expand...
I kinda thot this was the case as they seem to be very scattered-I am glad they do what they do but it would be even better if they could get organized in a way that really max's their talent resources..
its no different than any job- it can be a great one but the chaos can make u dread going to work.

added-not criticing them tho- at least they try-i think smedley is saying that if a serch is considered to have been done by them and lets say it wasnt as organized as it should be- a body could actually be missing out on being found if the effort is done in a strategic way as with professional search people (even if they volunteer their time-some are trained better than others in the fundamentals of it all).
 
I have a lot of respect for Tim Miller and Co. and would want them on my team if I were to have a missing loved one. I think that it is wonderful that people volunteer their time to help with searches. The searchers do not get paid for their time and most of them have jobs that they take time from to help find missing loved ones. There are people who have knowledge in using high tech equipment that volunteer their time just because they want to help.

I highly doubt that Tim just runs into strangers on the street and asks them to join his search team. As he is doing a very tough job I hate to hear him criticized for not being perfect. Tim has a big heart and through his own loss he is trying to help others who are suffering the way he did.

I have emailed Bill O'Reilly and Greta and asked them to mention the article posted here on their shows. I plan to email Nancy and a few other shows to see if they won't mention it too.
 
Bobbisangel said:
I have a lot of respect for Tim Miller and Co. and would want them on my team if I were to have a missing loved one. I think that it is wonderful that people volunteer their time to help with searches. The searchers do not get paid for their time and most of them have jobs that they take time from to help find missing loved ones. There are people who have knowledge in using high tech equipment that volunteer their time just because they want to help.

I highly doubt that Tim just runs into strangers on the street and asks them to join his search team. As he is doing a very tough job I hate to hear him criticized for not being perfect. Tim has a big heart and through his own loss he is trying to help others who are suffering the way he did.

I have emailed Bill O'Reilly and Greta and asked them to mention the article posted here on their shows. I plan to email Nancy and a few other shows to see if they won't mention it too.
Click to expand...

Excellent post, Bobbisangel. Tim does not have to be doing what he is doing at all.
I imagine a lot of their money went for all those searches in Aruba for Natalee. They didn't have to take that one on, but they did. The very fact that he is out there TRYING and GIVING is, in and of itself, a wonderful thing, and they do have success, like finding Teketria. People like Tim and Marc Klaas and Kelly, who give of themselves so selflessly BECAUSE they have suffered unimaginable losses themselves, are true angels and should be commended highly, all the time. I plan to give to TE myself as soon as possible.
 
petra said:
EquuSearch Running Out Of Money


The non-profit group has conducted 107 searches for missing people this year.


*****************************SNIP*******************
Click to expand...


TES has not conduced 107 searches this year! They may have spent 107 DAYS searching. Certainly not more than 10 to 15 searches total.

I doubt I will ever go with them again and I know others who will not either.
 
I don't know that much about EquuSearch -- I am not from that area and I don't believe I know any of the members personally. However, they did copy a Charley Project case file without crediting me and I plan to complain about that. And a mother of a missing child told me she was really upset with them -- she said she paid them some money to search for her child and they didn't do so, or didn't do enough, or something like that.
 
meggilyweggily said:
I don't know that much about EquuSearch -- I am not from that area and I don't believe I know any of the members personally. However, they did copy a Charley Project case file without crediting me and I plan to complain about that. And a mother of a missing child told me she was really upset with them -- she said she paid them some money to search for her child and they didn't do so, or didn't do enough, or something like that.
Click to expand...


Meaghan, you have an interesting web site. I will be spending some time there.
Thank you!
 
Smedley said:
TES has not conduced 107 searches this year! They may have spent 107 DAYS searching. Certainly not more than 10 to 15 searches total.

I doubt I will ever go with them again and I know others who will not either.
Click to expand...

Smedley,

I understand that you don't like the way that Texas EquuSearch operates but please don't make statements that are untrue. TES was searching for 4 people in the just last two weeks. Two of them were found, two have not been. TES is called out all of the time and sometimes the searches take hours, sometimes weeks.

I've worked with both TES and NSAR teams and the each have their own shortcomings but they train and search on their own time and use a lot of their personal money to do so. Tim Miller is the director of Texas EquuSearch. His search managers run most of the searches. I worked with two weeks ago who did search and rescue with the military. He knew what he was doing.

People need to realize that many organizations don't have enough money to pay full time workers. You have to depend on who is available at any given time.

I welcome you to list some alternatives to donate money to. All of the search teams can use it.
 
Robert, a good start to help me regain my confidence is for someone to PM me a list of the 107 searches Tim alluded to. As well as information to confirm such a claim.

I have seen no evidence that any of his searchers have taken any bonafide search training. Yes, some of the outside volunteers from other SAR organizations have had training, but not Tim or his core people in charge of searches.

BTW, I am not looking for donations.
 
In alot of of cases just having the feet on the street goes miles for helping the families ability to cope. Many times the official searches have been called off when Equusearch gets involved, without them the families are walking around alone doing the search and if you want to see disorganized go to one of those.


A case they were involved in that got almost no press was: Sheril Moore
A volunteer from Texas Equusearch found a body in a field about 1/2 mile from where Sheril Moore’s Ford Explorer was found. Identification has not yet been confirmed. Sheril went missing while evacuating from Hurricane Rita, going from Houston, Tx to Golden, Co.

They also come up empty as with the case of Nita Mayo.
 
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