Months after music festival, local charity has not received payment
By James Kmosko
Nearly two months after the Vocals For Veterans music festival, benefactor L.O.V. Thrift Store has not received the funds raised at the event.
The festival, organized by Linda Brooks and her company Local Vocals, was held on October 11th and 12th at The Turn Sports Lounge, just north of the Lincoln County line on NC-16 Business.
Gini Popko is the co-founder and store manager of L.O.V. Thrift Store, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to providing assistance to veterans in need. Gini first encountered Linda Brooks when L.O.V. provided assistance to a veteran acquainted with Brooks.
“I was contacted by [Linda] originally in July about her [veteran] friend,” Gini said. “Then in August she said, ‘Hey, you do such things for veterans, and one of my goals is I want to do music festivals to benefit charities, and I want all the proceeds to go to you guys.’”
Brooks secured a location for the festival at The Turn Sports Lounge, a local bar, and secured donations and sponsorships from local businesses. Equipment, tents, and auction items such as an electric guitar were donated, lent out, or offered at reduced prices by various local businesses and individuals. Several of the bands that played at the festival donated their time to help raise funds for veterans.
The official Facebook event page for the festival reads, “All proceeds will go to Love Our Veterans (L.O.V.), non-profit organization in Denver, NC.”
In the weeks following the event, Linda Brooks and L.O.V. were in contact regarding payment. In text messages, Brooks described a series of personal issues and processing delays that prevented her from delivering the funds to L.O.V.. She first committed to “dropping by” L.O.V. on October 21st.
The same day, The Chronicle was scheduled to meet Brooks for an interview regarding the festival. Brooks cancelled the appointment with The Chronicle, citing sickness, and never arrived at L.O.V..
“The 23rd I sent her a text and [asked her] how she was feeling and when she’d be able to stop by,” Gini said. “She did respond and say, ‘I will do my best to get up there. My car’s going on the fritz, I have to find one within the next two days if I can.’ Never heard back from her again.”
The Chronicle contacted Brooks during this time, who agreed to reschedule the previously cancelled interview for October 30th. Linda did not arrive for the interview, and did not respond to The Chronicle’s further attempts at communication via call and text.
“So we reached out, she never showed up,” Gini said. “We texted her again and said, ‘Look, last chance, we need to know what’s going on.’ Never heard from her. So that’s when I posted something on Facebook.”
L.O.V.’s November 17th Facebook announcement read in part, “Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts to reach the event organizer responsible for overseeing funds and reporting totals, we have not received any communication or updates. At this time … no funds have been donated to L.O.V.”
The same day, several hours after the post went live, Brooks contacted both L.O.V. and The Chronicle.
Brooks again described a series of personal issues and processing delays, writing in a text to a Chronicle reporter, “It is sad that people have no grace for each other anymore and automatically assume the worst without thinking someone may be experiencing some crisis in their life.”
Brooks committed to delivering the funds by the 21st of November, but no check was ever delivered. Brooks wrote that she would deliver the check by mail, claiming that she did “not feel safe” approaching the storefront following mounting pressure from members of the community.
The day after L.O.V. posted the Facebook announcement, Gini was approached for information by a representative of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department, who Gini believes was contacted by a sponsor or an individual who purchased an auction item.
An officer has since been assigned to the case and the investigation is ongoing.
“[The investigator] said that … it’s really up to the [District Attorney],” Gini said. “But once the DA sees everything, you’ve got a really good case.”
In since-removed Facebook comments, Brooks provided hand-written accounting sheets describing profits and losses relating to the festival. The sheets contradict themselves and other statements made by Brooks, who variably claimed the amount owed to L.O.V. was between $1000 and $3000.
“I went over all her numbers,” Gini said. “[Even if] I go by her numbers, she brought in $7,082.82. She owed herself for what she paid $5,243.30, which means the proceeds were $1,839.52. but that does not include the auction items. Those should not be included in the proceeds. That brought in $2,400 from the auction, plus $500 that the barbeque guy donated. We should be getting a check for $4,739.52.”
In a September interview with The Chronicle Chronicle, Brooks said, ““I’m hoping I’ll write [Gini] a $10,000 check. I’m certain that’s attainable.”
At the festival on the 12th, when asked by a Chronicle reporter if the $10,000 goal would be met, Linda said, “a lot of tickets” were sold on Saturday and that “she hoped” the goal was still obtainable.
Other parties, including those who donated money, time, and other commodities to the festival, have expressed frustration at the outcome.
“She came to us and asked if we could use our event space,” said Brittany Audette, manager at The Turn. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that people know [what she did], so that she can’t do it again. We didn’t collect any money off of [the festival], there was no monetary gain for us.”
According to Brittany, The Turn has also had trouble contacting Brooks in the nearly two months since the festival.
“People were asking me, how much money did you raise?” Brittany said. “And I’m like, I don’t know. And she was dodging all my phone calls, and Gini’s [communications].”
Gini says that she does not believe Brooks initially intended to defraud L.O.V., The Turn, and the other sponsors and festival attendees.
“I think that from the beginning, she had great intentions,” Gini said. “I think she got in over her head. I think that she didn’t realize all the organization and the prep [necessary].”
According to Gini, L.O.V. will continue working with law enforcement and others to resolve the issue.
“We’re sorry to all the sponsors and people who worked really hard to make the event successful,” Gini said. We’re doing what we need to do on our end to make things right.”
Linda Brooks was contacted for comment but did not reply at the time of publishing.
Great reporting James!