Grocery chain’s donation in Fordyce draws rebuke
GRANT LANCASTER
Advocates raising money for survivors of the June mass shooting at a Fordyce grocery store and the families of the four people slain criticized on Wednesday the corporation that owns the store for donating what they view as a pittance to survivors.
Houchens Food Group, the company that owns the Mad Butcher grocery store, pledged the donation on Sept. 27 but declined to publicly reveal the amount.
Information from the Arkansas Community Foundation, which administers the Fordyce Survivors Fund, provides an indication of how big the donation was, however.
Before the donation, the fund had raised around $75,000, foundation spokeswoman Jessica Ford said. By Wednesday, a few donations had brought the total up to around $112,000, she said.
In a statement, the members of VictimsFirst, a nonprofit made up of survivors of American mass shootings and the families of those killed or injured, said they thought the corporation’s donation was out of step with its stature.
“Given its status as a $4 billion corporation and owner of Mad Butcher grocery store, Houchen’s paltry contribution falls significantly short of what is expected and historically has been given by other grocery store owners where mass shootings have occurred,” the statement said.
The statement cited an annual revenue total listed on the Houchens Industries website, which is the parent company for Houchens Food Group.
Attempts to reach Greg Rush, the company’s vice president and chief marketing officer, for comment on Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful.
In the past, grocery stores where mass shootings have
occurred have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars or even a million dollars to funds for survivors, said Anita Busch with VictimsFirst.
On Wednesday, Candace McCollum, the chair of the Fordyce Survivors Fund, said she couldn’t understand why Houchens chose not to disclose the amount of its donation, and said she thinks the company missed an opportunity to do a lot of good for the survivors of the shooting, many of whom are Mad Butcher employees.
The press of bills doesn’t stop just because someone was involved in a tragic incident like the shooting at Fordyce’s only full-service grocery store, McCollum said.
“Houchens really has the opportunity to save a life, and it’s just upsetting that they don’t see it that way,” McCullom said.
The donation from Houchens represents an apparent disregard for the well-being of the company’s employees and its customers in Fordyce, the VictimsFirst statement went on.
“It also reflects a total failure in understanding the severity of the situation — the devastating human and financial toll of the mass shooting that happened on its property, a burden now unfairly placed on the victims,” the statement said. “This lack of meaningful corporate responsibility is both disappointing and unacceptable.”
Also Wednesday, the application process for victims of the shooting to request money from the fund was set to begin, a plan of action adopted by the Fordyce Survivors Fund’s steering committee states. Applications will be accepted through Oct. 30, according to the plan.
Houchens officials declined a position on the committee earlier this year, Ford said in September.
Only legal heirs of those who were killed, people injured by gunfire, people who suffered other physical injuries and people present who suffered psychological trauma are eligible for a share of the money, the plan from the steering committee states.
The statement from VictimsFirst comes a few days ahead of the next hearing in the trial of Travis Posey, 45, of New Edinburg, who faces four counts of capital murder and 11 of attempted capital murder in the shooting, which killed Ellen Shrum, 81; Callie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; and Shirley Taylor, 63.
Court documents name James Johnson, Sharon Brazil, Thomas Brazil, Brittney Sullivent, Demaria Cooper, Kasey Harbour, Latoya Allen, Silas Compton, Jacqueline Curb, Ronald Clayton and Judy Clayton as the victims of the murder attempts.
The hearing is set for Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Dallas County Courthouse in Fordyce, court records show.
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2024-10-10T07:00:00.0000000Z
2024-10-10T07:00:00.0000000Z
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