is this new?

Community,

it is with great regret that the council of the IFBMA has decided that it must withdraw the IFBMA's endorsement of the BMEF.

After receiving several complaints last year about missing and unanswered claims, we undertook to find out what was going on with the BMEF. In the process, we uncovered more and more accounts of claims that were never answered or simply disappeared. In spite of several attempts to find out from the BMEF how precisely it is administered, we are none the wiser. There is moreover absolutely nothing to be found at the BMEF website that might help. For such a fund to operate, it must be transparently administered, it must communicate effectively, and it must maintain a reputation that inspires trust. As far as we can tell, this is not the case.

It must be stressed however that we will continue to support the principle of messenger emergency funds. We therefore recommend that all contributions intended for injured messengers should in future be made not to the BMEF, but to one of the many local funds that have been established in recent years.

We invite people administering messenger emergency funds in whatever country or city to make contact.

Of course, we will always credit Jean Andre Vallery with inspiring the international messenger community and having started the BMEF.

It would be very helpful if this announcement were translated into as many languages as necessary. We are not all native English users. So please feel free to distribute translate and re-post this message.


Andy Duncan, President IFBMA council.

although i like the idea of someone putting together a bike messenger emergency fund i never quite thought it was real. i always would hear that if something happened to you while you were working you could get a hold of them and they would help you out as best they could...whatever that means. i don't think i know anyone that has received help from the BMEF...in any case, if you're planning or thinking about donating you should look into more local funds as the letter suggests. i know the ccu is working on getting something together so keep your eyes open for that. thanks for the letter and the heads up andy...peace.