Vs. Newton Charity Issues

Please feel free to continue the discussion here.

Good call J-Rod.

For those out of the loop here is where the issues started, be warned it is quite long:

I am upset with the end results to say the least.

Another thing that bothers me about this. Heath got more than just this money. At Worlds this year, he showed me tons of very nice, high end yoyos that he’s gotten for free from various vendors and manufacturers. He bragged that he’d gotten them because of who he is and the company he owns. His reputation is based on his company, and his supposed charity work. His charity was a complete scam, and went directly into his pockets and to fund his company. So the money and goods that were donated for charity not only profited him, but his company and helped provide yoyos for his personal collection. Basically, he profited much, much, much, more than the roughly $4000 that’s being discussed. I find it disturbing, disgusting, and reprehensible. All of the money that could have been going to cancer research over the last several years has instead gone to grow Heath’s YYR collection. I lost 2 people this year alone to cancer. Who knows how many people that money could have helped?

can someone clarify … i bought a vsnyyc skywalker from yye … i am not sure if that $ went to the donation or not … either way what went down is not right.

If Heath didn’t run this company as a non profit than none of this would matter. He would be just another owner of a company making $. so pretending to be non profit is the ugliest part of this whole situation. Maybe he should have stated a while ago that he can’t do this without making any profit. Did anyone ever think that someone would make yo-yos for non profit? Who would pay for all of the initial cost and all the other cost that goes into making a yoyo? I mean does Heath have another job? did he do this as a side thing or was he doing this full time? A lot of it doesn’t matter anymore but I think it was inevitable. Maybe his intentions were for the right reason but later he realized that he was spending his time doing something that was not helping him financially yet he was putting in so much time.

I am not saying this to defend him or to say that what he did was right. I just hope we all as a community understand that if we want to give to a charity … then give to a charity. If you are giving $150 in exchange for a yoyo … well than you are not really giving to the charity, you are buying an over priced yoyo and I can only imagine that only a portion of the amount you spend is going to charity. I know some paid more than $150 and stuff but my point is that … not all of the 150 would go into the donation anyway... i mean did any one consider how much Heath had to put up for starting this company?

Again I am not trying to defend anyone or anything. Can anyone else name another yoyo company that is a non profit company?

So VSNYYC was started as a non profit and this was the first donation ever made? Or is this a separate charity for the Cancer society? … which seemed to raise around 4,000. and Like ShaunC said .. i can't imagine that 4,000 is the only amount of that he made … unless its specifically for the cancer society… and if so than where is the rest of the money going? … well he has to run this company also right? so some of it went there… if he would have kept it all open from the beginning this would have been ok …

but if this is really his first proof of donation since he started this company … well than yes I agree its really really … wow can’t even think of a word…

I don’t believe in name-calling, mud-slinging, or talking behind people’s backs, but what Heath did is absolutely disgusting.

What kind of person steals from a cancer charity to buy toys?

Kudos to the vsNewton contest team for leaving.

@Nivo: No, none of the vsNYYC yoyos sold on YYE went to the Works Charity auction (to my knowledge). The auctioned yoyos came as donations and were sold on eBay.

Heath started the company as a non-profit, but later moved towards a profitable business to make more yoyos.

No it didn’t.

team VS.newton disbanded?

This is a horrible issue that I don’t believe will ever be resolved by Heath without being forced. If he wanted to do his best to right this situation he would have gotten a credit card and paid off the entire balance of the donations that he used for HIS PERSONAL USE. Not that would fix the problem, but would have righted it to the extent of his abilities. Wish he would have done that, but its to late now.

I am disgusted by this.

Jacob Gross

wow. that’s an unmitigated shame in every sense of the word.

I am still in a state of shock on what has happened. It seemed that Heath was a good guy and would keep his word on such a donation like this for cancer, but as for using the money for your personal use when you promised to donate it for cancer that is low. I have nothing else to say upon this matter. I am speechless! God Bless - Moefv

I’ve lost more friends and family to cancer than I care to count.

This is absolutely unforgivable, Heath. The next time we hear from you should be to post a picture of a receipt for $3k.

After that, don’t ever show your face again.

It makes me sad to think that somebody would do something like this and then continue to lie about it for so long. I guess I can remove all VSNYYC throws from my wishlist now.

Yuki

You’ve got this a little mixed up. VSNYYC is not part of the Works charity auction that is the subject of this discussion. VSNYYC was, for a while, not for profit but that is neither here nor there. The mission of the company never had anything to do with donating money to charity.

This Works project was a separate venture wherein people donated throws to Heath in order for him to sell and then donate all proceeds to ACS. Heath was the organizer, and also did some work himself in donating throws or having donated throws anodized.

But it’s the money from this charity auction that is missing. Not from VSNYYC sales.

But it DOES include previous nonprofit sales. The original mission of the company was to donate all profit to charity. But this is his first donation, since inception of the company. So he’s been scamming people from the very beginning. All sales before he went for-profit were pocketed by him under the false pretense that they were going to charity. This goes much deeper than people are realizing.

I was under the impression that the mission of the company was simply not to turn a profit. To offer throws at or near cost to provide the community with great throws for it’s own sake. I don’t remember anyone ever saying a word about him donating to charity or not outside of this auction.

At any rate, VSNYYC is still not the subject of the discussion and just buying a VSNYYC throw does not mean your money was stolen or misused. This is specifically about the auction.

Steve and I rarely agree but I think this is the least he could do at this point… Pay the debt you owe to the community and the charity and leave. And be lucky most people arent filing claims/lawsuits/and charges against you.

Just checked and the first run Skywalker review by HSYY states the same…

“Heath had decided to make a completely nonprofit company dedicated to giving back to the yo-yo community. Basically, he is only selling his yo-yos for what it costs him to make them.”

So there at least was a point where the VSNYYC mission was not about charitable donations. It was simply about producing yoyos at cost. Now, whether or not Heath was adhering to that I don’t know, but it’s not easily argued without seeing all of his records.

I’m not surprised. I mean, there have been a lot of issues with Heath for a while now, I don’t get why people were still considering him as a reliable person.

Summary for those who haven’t read the other threads:

1. 2 years ago Heath organized a charity auction for the American Cancer Society
2. People donated yoyos to be anodized and auctioned for this charity - all the money raised through eBay auctions was to be donated to the ACS
3. Instead of donating the money, Heath stole it and spent it on undisclosed personal things
4. Heath then lied for months and months about it
5. Heath finally admitted guilt today, but in a weak and ambiguous way, after donating $1150 out of $4300 raised
6. Heath still owes $3150 to the ACS.

thanks for the clarification!!!

edit :

what Dryoyo just said : He still lied about the donation >:( didn’t even catch that. It was his first donation … not his 2nd.