When Memorial Hospital’s Community Health Division gave Companions on the Journey a three-year $300,000 grant, the expectation was that the South Bend, Indiana reentry program would use the money to help formerly incarcerated persons successfully make the transition from incarceration back into the community. Memorial Hospital, and others who have contributed to Companions on the Journey, might never know if their contribution had the desired effect. Record keeping by the Companions staff has disappeared, and some believe it never actually existed.
Although no criminal charges have been filed, the remaining Companion board members voted to dissolve the organization. Founded in 2002 by Rob Sambosky, Companions on the Journey was established to aid those being released from prison or jail with finding jobs and housing, and to provide a supportive environment. Sambosky, who served on the board as president and director until last year, claimed Companions was a nonprofit organization. The Internal Revenue Service disagrees. The IRS claims that a Form 990 was never filed. A Form 990 is a document any tax exempt organization must fill out each year if they receive more than $25,000 in contributions. Companions was given two extensions to file a Form 990, but because the organization failed to do so, its nonprofit status will most likely be revoked.
The money allocated from the organization’s checking accounts is also under review. Carbon copies of checks made out to ex-offenders, and others, note that the checks were issued for “Contract Labor.” There are no records of what that labor was, what the pay scale was, or if income taxes on the amount issued was paid. No yearly audits were ever commissioned by the Companions board. Another bank account showed that money was being spent on YMCA memberships for clients of Companions. These memberships will no longer be paid.
Some Companions records were stored in a room at Broadway Christian Parish. Companions on the Journey clients were able to access that room, and actually held meetings there. The meetings have been canceled, to the disappointment of Companions clients. Many clients had hoped that Companions would hire them, but that does not appear to be happening. Companions on the Journey now exists in name only. Maybe they can try to find employment at a new organization. Sambosky intends to open up a new reentry program, Agents of Change. Perhaps the new clients will include someone with accounting skills.
Source: South Bend Tribune 4/23/11
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