(EL DORADO, Kan.) — FactFinder 12 Investigators has learned more about the staff firings and restructuring at Numana.
The Board of Directors for the El Dorado based nonprofit is opening up about the ways the charity got off target and why it needed to fire Co-founder/Director Rick McNary and his entire 11 person staff.
Since 2009, Numana has been using churches and volunteers to package meals for the hungry and fulfill its mission of empowering others to help feed the hungry.
Wednesday, FactFinder 12 Investigators sat down exclusively with all three Numana board members to talk about some of the issues that led to the shake up.
First and foremost, board members Dick Morris, Mike Kriwiel, and Steve Pierce want to reassure the public Numana is committed to feeding as many starving people as possible in the United States and around the world.
The board says the nonprofit got into a challenging financial position where revenues and costs were too far apart and a restructuring was needed.
In early 2010, millions of disaster relief dollars were flowing in for Numana to help victims of the Haiti earthquake. Volunteers packaged about 20 million meals in the first six months of that year.
Numana board opens up about reasons behind shake-up
But in the two years since then, Numana has delivered a quarter of that number -- five million meals. The funding hasn't been there so the output dropped.
However, expenses continued to rise, including salaries. It was a model that was unsustainable.
The decision to fire McNary was made because of a "fundamental difference in philosophy about how best to spend the money," the board said collectively. "We wish him well and hope he continues his mission to feed the hungry."
Numana gave all the fired employees a chance to reapply for their jobs. Six have been hired back so far. McNary did not reapply. The three volunteer businessmen who make up the board are handling McNary's duties without pay.
FactFinder 12 has tried repeatedly to reach McNary for his reaction. He has not responded to the calls.
