Benefactors wanted money to help needy or disabled kids

In their last years, generous donors long ago designated that endowments to the YMCA of Stanislaus County be used only for specific programs helping needy and disabled children.

At first, they were.

But in the past five years, YMCA management has nearly depleted three "restricted funds" as collateral for loans just to keep the YMCA's doors open.

"It's sad to see Bart's wishes and hopes and dreams for children gone," said Dianna Olsen, who helped establish the YMCA's Bart Bennett Endowment in 1997.

That fund and two others held $407,698 in 2002. YMCA management regularly used the interest generated to give homeless children free experiences with YMCA activities and summer camp.

Since then, board members -- against the advice of their former longtime accountant, who warned of "exposure to legal inquiries" -- have given former YMCA Executive Director Steve Smith approval to use all but $41,790 elsewhere.

United Way of Stanislaus hired Smith in June as its chief marketing officer, and he split time between that organization and the YMCA until Thursday.

Emeritus board member Tom Eakin said he reluctantly

agreed to let management drain all but $25 from a $52,136 endowment established by his late father, William, whose dream for a mountain cabin catering to disabled children then vanished. Tom Eakin said he was fearful the YMCA would close down without a cash infusion.

In an interview Tuesday, three other board members insisted they did nothing wrong by redirecting the earmarked money, saying the accountant must not have understood that the bequests had no such restrictions.

But internal YMCA documents and others produced by a survivor of the most generous donor suggest the opposite. And people intimately involved in the funds' creation, such as Olsen, say the donors never wanted their gifts used for standard operating expenses.

Sold property to start fund

Before his death at age 88 in 1998, Bennett was a community giant in Modesto, serving groups such as Boy Scouts, Jaycees and The Salvation Army. He also founded Community Housing and Shelter Services.

Ken Diehl, his longtime friend, visited Bennett two days before he died. "He said, 'I'm so happy, Ken,' " Diehl recalled Wednesday. "I said, 'Why?' and he said, 'I gave it all away.' He didn't have one dime when he died. That's pretty phenomenal."

Bennett, who had no children, sold a rental property to establish the YMCA fund bearing his name, which doubled in size to $140,000 with donations from friends and supporters. He had been pleased with the YMCA's outreach during the 1997 flood to homeless children from his Community Housing and Shelter Services, and wished to see that cooperation continue.

"That's what he wanted," said Frank Riser, who co-founded the Community Can Tree with Bennett and who helped him establish the YMCA endowment. Riser added $10,500 to beef up the fund. Diehl pitched in $2,000, according to a YMCA endowment list obtained by The Bee.

"(Bennett) specifically stated, 'I want to send to camp for a week or two the kids who can't afford to pay,' " Riser said. "That's what (the fund) was established for."

Olsen, who was executive director of Bennett's nonprofit at the time, said everyone agreed that, because of its stature, the YMCA should manage the endowment. Olsen and former YMCA Executive Director Karen Servas used its interest to help more than 200 children, according to solicitation letters from 2002.

Allowable uses in dispute

Robert Babington Sr. was even more integral to the YMCA's legacy. He was general secretary of Modesto's YMCA from 1948 to 1962 and ran Camp Jack Hazard, the High Sierra summer camp known to thousands of children over many decades.