I’ll try and keep this simple but the story is a little bit complicated.
Background
Janice Lockamy was a cat rescuer. She had many cats at her home. She was also involved in transporting rescue cats. On the 2nd July 2017 Janice was transporting 21 cats from Tampa Bay Animal Control in Florida to Suzy’s Zoo Sanctuary for Special Needs Kitties in South Carolina. Janice’s husband, Kent, was driving.
They were involved in a bad accident. Kent fell asleep at the wheel, Jennifer Eady, a friend, says. Janice was killed and Frank was badly injured. Some cats escaped the crash and were captured. You can read more by clicking on this link which opens a new window/tab.
Appropriation of donations
A friend of Janice, Jennifer Eady, wanted to raise money through online crowdfunding to help provide for the cats left behind by Janice on her death. Jennifer says that there were 54 cats at Janice’s home.
“Janice was such a wonderful friend not just for humans but for fur children as well. JANICE, YOU WERE AN ANGEL TRANSPORTING THESE BEAUTIFUL BABYS TO THEIR FUREVER LOVING HOMES YESTERDAY. NOW YOUR AN ANGEL HELPING THOSE CROSS OVER TO THE RAINBOW BRIDGE. PLEASE GIVE MY 9 KIDS A BIG HUG AND A KISS FROM THEIR MOMMY. AND TO JANICE’S FAMILY,I’M SO VERY VERY TERIBBLY SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS. SHE PASSED AT WHAT SHE LOVED DOING MORE THAN ANYTHING IN LIFE.”
Jennifer’s GoFundMe money raiser accumulated $10,165. A lot of money due to the recognition of Janice’s warm heart in assisting rescue cats.
Jennifer takes up the story in her words:
“Then Janice’s son and sister got wind of the money raised and started to harass me day and night that they wanted it for the lavish funeral they had planned, so they said….”
Jennifer refused and made it clear that the money was for the cats who had to be rescued from the house. Their lives were at stake.
Kent (Janice’s hushand) refused to let rescue organisations recover the cats from the home and they were taken by ASPCA. They were probably killed and not saved. Jennifer was heartbroken as the money was for the cats.
As the cats were killed Kent and his son harassed Jennifer for the money. She was pestered to the point where she gave up and released it to them. Jennifer says that GoFundMe were unhelpful.
“Before I told GoFundMe to release it to this scum family, I urged the Donors to request a refund, as GoFundMe misused and mis distributed it, and that it will go to the family for alleged funeral cost. My animal loving friends were outraged, as my purpose was to rescue these 54 poor souls. I assume all were euthanized. or so I was told.”
Kent married his girlfriend four months after the accident which was allegedly caused by him.
“Her husband Kent married his longtime girlfriend just 4 months after Janice was killed, because he fell asleep behind the wheel. Its an athrocity and it sickens me to this day what they have done. I m glad Janice saw what we all tried…”
Kent and his son said they needed to the money for Janice’s funeral but it transpired that they had an insurance policy for it. Jennifer claims that the money was used by Kent and his son for personal use including a holiday. She is disillusioned with Go FundMe.
“So after going back and forth with GoFundMe, who held the money in escrow for 2 weeks, I couldnt take the son’s harrassment anymore and told GoFundMe to give them the money. Come to find out, they had an insurance policy that covered the funeral cost and the raised funds by me and mostly my friends went to the son, who went on a vacation.”
Comment: this is a very sad end to a story of cat rescue which degenerated into family greed and betrayal of the memory of Janice. Jennifer was desparate to help her cats in return for Janice’s friendship and kindness. She was betrayed too. She appears to have found the whole fundraising process too hard to control at a distance and when under duress from Janice’s husband and his son.
Note: the quotes are taken from Jennifer Eady’s comment which you can read by clicking on this link.
I m Jennifer. The one raising this money for my dear friend Janice. Everything I wrote in my long reply was true. I still have the emails between GoFundMe and Kent and I. I believe it was actually the son replying to GoFundMe in that 3 way email thread, as Kent is an introverted weird man that doesnt really talk. I would like to correct a couple things Mr. Michael Broad wrote: In regards to the 54 animals, Id like to correct that there were also dogs. In regards to the cats that were on their way to the rescue on that faithful day, 2 died, 2 ran away and the rest I was told were placed with a rescue. The 54 cats and dogs at the home of Janice and Kent were not rescued as Kent didnt allow access. Perhaps he was embarrassed because of the condition of the home. In regards to the girlfriend he married just 4 months after Janice’s death was a woman he dated already before Janice died. Her best friend Dawn Rodriguez, who died of cancer in 2018 was the one cautioning me NOT to release the money to the family as she knew it would never be used to safe the animals. But after the harrassment of this terrible heartless family and their friends saying things like ” You raise money on the back of our dead mother ” , I raise the money for myself” and so on… I just thought I do not deserve to be put through this hell just because I wanted to help. I released the money and than GoFundMe questioned THEIR misuse. They held the money in escrow. But of course they wanted their 3% profit. At first they gave me 3 options since I was the organizer. Release it to Kent, give it back to the donors or come to an agreement with Kent regarding the animals, which would mean he would have to release the 54 poor souls, kept in filthy cages at his home. I told GoFundMe to give all donations back to all Donors, which would have meant that GoFundMe would have not collected their 3%. So GoFundMe released all funds to Kent without my approval after I was given 3 options. I feel terrible that these animals most likely died. The ASPCA is after all a kill place. The only comfort I have is knowing that Janice saw all this from heaven and God saw my heart. Thank you for clarifying this. I really appreciate it as I was attacked from left and right. People were furious that this money was misapplied and the animals died. I felt responsible. But I made peace with it. I know I just wanted to do what Janice would have wanted. I know she turned in her grave…. I will never work with GoFundMe EVER again.