RJ’s women sit on the board of the non-profit and, as with all legal documents, RJ’s name is conspicuously absent. FTN’s mission and organizing principles are like everything RJ Testerman and the Welcomed Consensus have done–copied from Vic Baranco and Morehouse. More’s non-profit organization is called Turn On To America, but, as with the sensuality information he copied, RJ has turned it into something nefarious and self-serving.
Dennis and I ran the food program for FTN when I got back from Europe and we were both living at Joost Ave. This experience was a big part of how we became close friends. We didn’t keep much of the food at that point; our house “dues” paid for groceries. After we moved out of Joost we still volunteered with FTN once in a while and every holiday, sometimes doing pickups for them or helping out at fundraisers. Later I would take my kids to help because service is a good feeling and we wanted them to enjoy it as we did. To be clear: my family and I benefited from FTN. Everyone who shows up to volunteer gets a food box. There are volunteer boxes prepared that are bigger and have all the best stuff. I usually didn’t take the whole box as it was too much food, but I did take food from food day when I was there.
Things really hit home when someone who recently moved out told me that only expired food from FTN is in the fridge at Joost. I didn’t know that they had stopped buying groceries altogether while still charging exorbitant dues. I have no objection to the food program, the non-profit, or even the volunteers taking food, but I do object to Free the Need’s resources being used to support The Welcomed Consensus business. I suppose even that would be okay if they were forthcoming about how much the charity feeds and clothes them. There would be no conflict of interest if, at the Benchmarks, they said, “Free the Need is a non-profit founded by The Welcomed Consensus to support the WC community.” Instead, they describe Free the Need as a purely philanthropic venture.
In the middle of February, with the help of friends, I created a letter to send to donors of Free the Need. We sent the letters first through email or contact forms on the company websites, and then followed up with hard copies by snail mail a few days later.
RJ Testerman, The Welcomed Consensus, and Free the Need continue to operate. They continue to hide and have not had a response, (at least one they felt good enough sharing publicly) to any of the issues brought up here on this blog. No matter, my supporters and I continue to do what we can to spread the word and hinder their ability to harm others.
Trader Joe’s responded first, within 4 days of sending the email. They called me to let me know that they would no longer be partnering with Free the Need. I cried out of relief and overwhelm as she explained the decision. The woman who called was very careful not to cross any lines, but also very compassionate while keeping it professional. FTN has picked up and picked over the Trader Joe’s haul for years. The expired food and flowers from Trader Joe’s have been used to stock their fridges and freezers and to cater Welcomed Consensus events for too long.
Buffalo Exchange wrote to me next and let me know they were no longer going to be working with Free the Need. FTN has done weekly pickups at two locations (6 to 10 bags of clothing) for at least a decade. All of the clothes were sorted and funneled up North to “The Ranch” to be distributed to the members there with the remainder sold for cash. We were very pleased they had pulled their support.
Then Peet’s coffee wrote. FTN has also been receiving Peet’s donations for years. It is used in all their houses and courses. They give the coffee as gifts to students and family and only add the coffee to the food boxes when the next donation is secured. The headquarters reached out to me and seemed perturbed. As with all these charities, Peet’s has no end of hardworking non-profits to donate to without having to support anything as shady as Free the Need.
There are more donors that I wrote to that haven’t responded. I was planning on following up but it felt kind of mercenary to be calling these small businesses about their donations as shelter in place became a reality. I’m not sure all of them are even still open. From the communications I did receive, I also understood that this was a tricky spot for these companies legally. So I figured the smaller companies were going to take some time, if they take the chance to communicate at all. I will persist and follow through and update you with what happens.
Things are pretty tough in SF at the moment. I’ve heard that Free the Need still gets produce from the South San Francisco Produce Market and that these donations fill the boxes they give away. I did not write to these vendors but have considered distributing the resource chart in person. I’m sure many of the remaining would remember me. Maybe Dennis and I will do it together. They’d get a laugh to see us still hanging out, but I imagine they are suffering like all businesses are right now so laughing very little. No one from the group ever wrote to me about shutting these donations down. I’m not sure that RJ Testerman and The Welcomed Consensus would have admitted it to many people. The shelter in place saved them some explanations I’m sure. You can read more about FTN here.
I think they made a typo, it would be “Handling Resistance to Pleasure” which is frightening. RJ Testerman and The Welcomed Consensus handled my resistance to pleasure with fear, pain, and coercion. RJ is a pro at those.
Since I pointed out that The Welcomed Consensus had no original material they’ve started offering new courses on their site. Same material but at least they got creative with the structure. Hopefully pointing out their dubious ways with Free The Need will help them to re-examine some of their shadier decisions with their “educational” program as well.
Just thought I’d catch you up. Please feel free to contact me if you have any information you’d like me to follow up on. I’ll write again soon about when I came back from Europe just as the Welcomed Consensus was being formed. I hope you’ll find it interesting.
Thanks for reading,
Christine
