Service dog group lost $5,000 on failed ball - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Service dog group lost $5,000 on failed ball

A nonprofit organization that helps treat mental health problems for service members and veterans through the use of trained service dogs is pleading for money after losing $5,000 after an inaugural ball it helped fund was abruptly canceled.

The Arlington, Va.-based Psychiatric Service Dog Society was one of several nonprofit groups that signed up to help sponsor the Veterans’ Inaugural Ball in Washington — an event that never happened after the promoter vanished without warning.

The promoter and organizer, Dante Hayes, has not given his side of the story, other than to acknowledge that the plug was pulled on the planned Jan. 20 ball for financial reasons.

Hayes identified himself as the head of a nonprofit organization called the Congressional Education Foundation for Public Policy, which has multiple addresses and does not appear to have filed fundraising and expense statements with the IRS for many years, making it difficult to track its activities.

Hayes’ ambitious plans involved getting sponsors, many of them small charities, to pay for the event with the promise of the publicity it could bring them. In addition to the charities, Hayes had invited performance artist Michael Israel, who was going to do paintings of prominent people including President Obama, as well as other musicians and a collection of beauty queens and pageant winners who were promised all-expense-paid travel and lodging for the inaugural.

Only one group of people has been located whose travel and lodging was actually covered by Hayes. They asked not to be identified, but reported being asked for contributions — one was asked to give $64,000, another $30,000 — after the hotel where the ball was going to be held, the St. Regis, already had announced that the event had been canceled because required deposits had not been made.

The individuals did not give Hayes any money.

Additionally, several people who purchased tickets to the ball, which cost up to $500 for nonveterans, said they have been unable get any information about getting refunds.

In a message asking for help, Joan Esnayra, president of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, said her group’s $5,0000 contribution “wiped out our bank account and denied us the fundraising opportunity that I hoped would have paid” for the group’s planned West Coast gathering this summer.

“If you can spare $5, please send it to us,” Esnayra said in the message. “If you can spare $50, please send it. And, maybe a few of you could afford to give $500. Please donate and help us get this fundraising for the gathering back on track.”

When asked for details about her involvement in the canceled ball, Esnayra said she was unable to say anything more because she had promised law enforcement officials she would not discuss the incident until an investigation is complete.

“My primary allegiance, right now, is to assist law enforcement in bringing this man [Hayes] to justice,” she said.

Esnayra’s organization is a registered nonprofit that provides education and training for people who train service dogs for the mentally ill, and provides information to disabled people about the benefits of having a service dog to help them with depression and other issues.

The organization does not provide or train dogs itself.