Petrelis Files

April 21, 2005

Daniel Okrent
Public Editor
The New York Times
Email: public@nytimes.com

Dear Mr. Okrent:

In today's article about Rep. Tom DeLay's charity for children, the Times reported the following: "Among the other members of Congress with charities are the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, whose World of Hope works on AIDS problems." (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/21/politics/21delay.html?pagewanted=2)

I checked the web site for the World of Hope charity and the site features this paragraph on the opening page.

"There has been some confusion in the identity of our ministry and Senator Frist's charitable organization named World Hope International, Inc. We are World of Hope Foundation, Inc., incorporated in 1990 and presently headquartered in Louisiana, with entities in California, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. We are not the same organization even though we both minister to those in need," claims the World of Hope web site. (Source: http://www.worldofhope.org/index.html)

But the World Hope International web site doesn't list Sen. Frist as being an advisor or anyway connected to their group. (Source: http://www.worldhope.org/worldhope/staff.htm)

Also, the director of operations for this charity, Jenny Baker, in a voice mail message to me this morning, said they're not affiliated with Sen. Frist.

Now, maybe Sen. Frist's charity's name is a slight variation on World of Hope, but I don't think so after reading this bit of information from him on his senate web site about a visit he made in January 2005 to Sri Lanka.

"Earlier this afternoon in a small village in Sri Lanka I hand-delivered $25,000 from the World of Hope Foundation directly to Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne and his wife, founders of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, which is now one of the most highly regarded indigenous nongovernmental organization in Sri Lanka," wrote Sen. Frist. (Source: http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Speeches.Detail&Speech_id=135)

I have no idea why he would cite this foundation's name when that charity's web site explains it is not linked to him.

My question for the Times about all of this is, did the paper today report the correct name for Sen. Frist's charity?

I sure would like to know the correct name of his charity, in order to locate and read the IRS 990 tax filings for the group, which should be available on the guidestar.org web site.

A prompt reply is requested and appreciated.

Sincerely,
Michael Petrelis