We are Robert and Kathleen Raskin, and today we’d like to tell you about a terrible injustice that was committed against foster children right here in our home city of Las Vegas. Commissioner Lawrence Weekly’s annual back-to-school fair is an event the commissioner has been holding for sixteen years. This year the fair was rocked by scandal when the commissioner’s staff took it upon themselves to confiscate backpacks and school supplies that had been donated to Clark County, Nevada, foster children to hand out for publicity at their own event. Volunteers for the Peggy’s Attic organization and DFS workers were outraged by the turn of events, and rightfully so.

No Excuse

According to Commissioner Weekly, organizers were caught off-guard when school started early this year, meaning their back-to-school fair took place earlier than expected. Because the commissioner and his staff didn’t bother to do even the most basic preliminary research, they thought it was acceptable to raid the donations that had been specifically earmarked for foster children in order to save face due to their own failing.

Once again, foster kids are getting hurt by the greed and corruption of our officials. Is it really more acceptable to take donations directly out of the hands of foster children who have absolutely nothing than to purchase supplies out of the commissioner’s own pocket or to forego the backpacks at his own even this year. We, Robert and Kathleen Raskin, think not, and we are not alone here.