Well, here’s a happy ending, sorta.
Raleigh drag performer Mary K Mart, aka Randy Light, received a check for the $1,465 Light was owed in unpaid vacation time by his former employer, the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, according to Mary K Mart’s Facebook page.
Light was issued a cease and desist letter by the Raleigh nonprofit’s attorney in October, warning him to stop disparaging the group publicly. The nonprofit, which has provided care, prevention and advocacy services to people living with HIV/AIDS experienced financial troubles late last year, when it fell behind on paying its taxes.
The group lost lucrative contracts with Wake County which were not reinstated. It downsized after furloughing its staff and now operates on a budget of $500,000.
The Alliance has since hired a new executive director, Hector Salgado, and is attempting to rebuild by hosting fundraising events, including a holiday-themed drag bingo event this past Saturday. Here is Mary K Mart’s full Facebook post.
For those of you that have been following my saga of retrieving money owed to me from a local Raleigh Agency that was due a year ago, I am happy to report that I now have in my hand my long awaited check. I would like to thank their new ED Hector for being the most communicative over the past 3 weeks regarding this situation, (when my check would be processed and when I could pick it up.) I have had better communication with him than any of the current Board Members from this past year. So on that note, I wish him and the agency the best of luck in all their future endeavors and hope that they continue to make restitution with the other agencies in our community that are still owed monies/donation for assisting them in some of their biggest 2014 fundraising events.
Ricky Duck, the executive director of the Wellness & Education Community Action Health Network, or WECAHN another nonprofit which currently employs Light, says the Alliance still owes it $5,000 for assistance it provided with two fundraising events in 2014. The Alliance’s board chairperson Melanie Dubis disputes that the Alliance owes WECAHN any money.
