Bombing Fund Audit Shows Most Requests Fulfilled
Audit: OKC bombing fund fulfilled majority of relief requests
BY CARY ASPINWALL World Staff Writer & ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Enterprise Editor
Friday, March 22, 2013
OKLAHOMA CITY – An audit of a foundation’s fund to help Oklahoma City bombing survivors found that the “overwhelming majority” of requests for assistance were approved and that only a few survivors had “fallen between the cracks.”
The audit of Oklahoma City’s Disaster Relief Fund, released Thursday, states that “nothing in the governing documents indicates its purpose was to be a compensation fund to be shared among the survivors.”
But the report recommends redirecting millions of dollars that had been moved elsewhere back to the relief fund and implementing policies to better ensure that survivors get help when needed.
The fund was established to help survivors of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. According to the audit, the fund has paid approximately $11.2 million “to help more than 1,000 survivors and children, to help fund the Oklahoma City National Memorial … and to provide case management assistance to survivors.” Because of earnings on investments, $10 million remains in the fund.