Charities Plan for Loss of Teamsters' Money - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Every year, Make a Wish in North Dakota spends about $8,000 per child to make their dreams of flying with the Happy Hooligans, Disneyworld, and swimming with dolphins come true.

Losing the money from the Teamsters' Hall closure and its charitable gambling there means they're losing about four sick kids' worth -- or twenty-five thousand dollars per year, the amount donated for the last three years running.

The closure of the hall follows an announcement by General Teamsters President James Hoffa that Teamsters Local 120 is being turned over to a trustee, following a months-long investigation into financial malfeasance by its President and Secretary-Treasurer. Among the elements explained in the letter posted on the door of Fargo's Teamsters Hall were allegations the two had caused the local Teamsters to pay for expenses for which there was no union purpose, including to a close family friend of the two to act as consultant to the Teamsters Club and unauthorized payment of stipends to members of a Bar and Gaming Board. The spokesperson for the Teamsters, Bret Caldwell, says the Hall may not re-open.

Make a Wish of North Dakota is only one of several charities who got money from the Teamsters and their charitable gambling in Fargo.

Special Olympics is another. So are some college students, who the North Dakota State Gaming Commission says got about five hundred dollars apiece in scholarship money.

Make a Wish spokesperson Dana Alterndorf says they'll work hard to make up the difference by approaching other potential donors.

In the meantime, the financial malfeasance alleged in shutting down the hall could be on its way to the feds.

Caldwell says they'll forward the results of their investigation to either the Justice Department or the Department of Labor.