Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

Sprint Car fans who are not fans of Late Model racing might not be familiar with Rich Olson so I'll provide a little background on Rich. A number of years ago Rich started something called "Fan's Fund" to encourage Late Model drivers to make the haul to western Wisconsin and compete in Cedar Lake's $50,000 to win USA Nationals. Rich's efforts have raised thousands of dollars donated by fans and has enabled drivers from other parts of the country to travel to Wisconsin in order to participate in the USA Nationals. These are drivers that the fans have read about or heard about but might never have had the opportunity to see in the upper Midwest. Rich's contributions to the sport and his love of racing have been well documented in dirt Late Model media sources. I cross over a little bit between Sprints and Late Models and have had the opportunity to get to know Rich and I trust his integrity.

With that having been said this is a repost of Rich's post about the Project X Marketing JDF Fundraiser that appeared on a local Late Model board. Some of you may have had some dealings with Project X Marketing so I'm reposting this for information purposes:

ANYONE MAKING DONATIONS TO THIS FUNDRAISER PLEASE READ BELOW:

The JDRF MinnDakotas (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota's) want to hear from anyone who has made a donation to the Project X Marketing JDRF fundraiser. This fundraiser is currently under investigation by JDRF MinnDakota's, JDRF Wisconsin (3 chapters) and the national JDRF Foundation.

Anyone who has made a donation to this fundraising attempt are asked to email the Executive Director of at theJ JDRF MinnDakota office:

Jackie Casey, Executive Director - jlcasey@jdrf.org

Your information will be kept confidential.

This fundraising attempt was posted on Project X Marketing's Facebook page and read the following:

Alright guys I have a challenge for all of our racers and fans. We are going to raise $75,000 to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund THIS WEEKEND. If we can get to 75,000 we have 3 companies willing to donate $25,000 to match for a total of $150,000. I challenge all our fans to donate at least $10 each. "Like" this and I will contact you for donations

Upon notification of this fundraising effort, the JDRF have research internally and never heard of Chris Kolstad nor Project X Marketing. The JDRF has a specific protocol regarding their fundraising efforts and with three companies willing to donate an additional $25,000, those companies should have already been in contact with the JDRF due to the tax implications of those possible donations. The JDRF have marked this fundraising effort as "Highly Suspicious."

The JDRF MinnDakotas have attempted to reach out to Mr. Kolstad via phone and email and as of yet have not received a response.

Again, if you have made a donation to this fundraiser, PLEASE CONTACT the JDRF MinnDakota offices and the Executive Director - Jackie Casey.

As most of you know, my son Griffin is a Type 1 Diabetic and our family is deeply involved with the JDRF MinnDakota chapter as well as the JDRF Walk at Mall of America. If you want to reach out to me for assistance in getting in contact with the JDRF I will be happy to assist you. I can be reached at richard_olson70@yahoo.com.

Thank you,
Rich Olson

Stan Meissner

Stan, as is explained by Shawn Hunter(on our facebook page), the IOWA driver that we paired with for this project, the reason we cannot be found in the Minnesota, Dakotas or Wisconsin is pretty simple: IT WAS DONE IN IOWA!

Shawn is a racer from Des Moines with strong ties to the JDRF both on his car and in his personal life. Shawn in is also approved by the JDRF to help raise fund for them and promote them. Any donations made were sent to Shawn, who also would not accept payments individually. Any and all payments made on this program were made directly to the JDRF and never so much as touched any member of organization. Hope this clears some things up.

As I pointed out this was a repost for informational purposes. I have absolutely no personal involvement other than being a friend of Rich's. You need to get with Rich and resolve this issue if you feel that you have been misrepresented. If Rich issues an update I will be happy to post that as well.

Most of the local Sprint Car teams are on a tight budget and need to spend their resources wisely. That is my main concern.

Stan Meissner

Mr. Gunderson, you were very clearly informed of why you would not be receiving any refund based on behavior you engaged in that was directly a violation of the terms of conduct you signed. If you would like to further address this contact me.

To the task at hand, Mr. Olson and I have exchanged several emails in an attempt to prove that this was 100% correctly done and with positive intentions. My hope is, after information has been submitted to the proper branch of the JDRF, that they will see the positive intentions behind all this and we can move on in the proper direction.

Chris

After speaking at length with Jackie Casey from the JDRF this morning, it was
stated to me that "In no way is there any evidence of any attempts to be
fraudulent on this cause". I have requested an official statement from Ms. Casey
that she stated she would need approval from head office to post but have the
documentation in my email to show that this was in no way illegitimate. For
those like Mr. Olson or Mr. Benson who have legitimate ties to this cause I
would be happy to show that documentation for them to verify but will not post
our communications publically until authorized to do so.

Furthermore, the JDRF is owed an apology in this matter. While we have proven
ourselves to be on the up and up with this, a FANTASTIC cause has been drug
through the mud along with us, and that isn't fair to them. It takes hard work
and dedication for a cause like this to do what they do, often times with very
little gratitude. While we will be taking a step back in our attempts to support
this cause, I strongly encourage anyone else to take a step forward for it.

Chris Kolstad, Owner

Project X Marketing