Graceful Hands Maurice McLain Magazine sales masquerading as charity Atlanta, Georgia

This group is aweful. They go from hotel to hotel ruining the reputation and intergity of the business. They do not respect the staff or other guest within the company. They are drug abusers and scam artist. They go from state to state to "sell" magazines and majority of the customers if not all do not receive anything. They prey on rich neighborhoods and use "troubled" youths mostly African American males to scam money out of hard working people.

I never seen such disrespect in my life. They steal from each other and they argue and fight as well. They do all kinds of drugs and lure prostitutes into the hotel as well. Our customers never feel safe because they prop our security doors open so they can come in and out of the hotel all night. They constantly ask for room keys everynight and they don't even return the ones they have stored in their room. Whoever is in charge of this group should be ashamed of themselves.

Bringing these people to properties and allowing them to be destructive. When you complain to the group leaders they don't even care. They don't even at least try to maintain order they just allow them to do what they want. Our regular guest don't even return anymore not to mention the reviews that we get. We are not a perfect hotel but it doesn't help that we have this nasty group of people who have no respect for the property come here and ruin what we are trying to salvage. Last year one guy tried to stab another man in his sleep and the police were called.

All the staff were so excited when they left last year only to face reality that they would be returning. To anyone who reads this DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO STAY AT YOUR HOTEL. DO NOT ALLOW THEM IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. CALL THE POLICE. And to those people who are actually trying to make an honest living through this shady organization find another way. There are plenty of programs that are legit that can help you finicially. 

I'd like to comment on this last complaint over our program with graceful hands , In the first place participants chosen tin this second chance program are not ivy league graduates nor pofessional white collar workers from high society, these are men & women chosen from low income high crime communities many of whom fell through the cracks of society and frowned upon in the job market due to their past making it difficult to seek employment and graceful hands has men & women that are from 18 years of age to over 40 years of age so to make a statement that they only prey on unsuspected teens is false and althrough we teach positive presentation seminars about how one should conduct themselves they are not professionals and it is in many cases their first time doing public speaking so they may get nervious or seem shakey at times but they are doing their best to uplift themselves and earn an honest living .This concept takes them out of their environment and away from the street's riff raff of gang and drugs or crime and counsel and mentor them into becoming positive productive members of society.

They provide travel, hair cuts and grooming housing, hot meals via their own personal catering service , training , they perform unity gathering or group meetings called P.M.A ( positive mental attitude) reading God's moment quotes from the bible and ending every meeting in group prayers so we in essence we take them from the bottom of the barrel clean them up provide social service assistance house them feed them clothes them counsel them and teach them to have a positive outlook to life while also teaching them a trade in public relations direct sales and power closing so that they can fend for themselves in the job market while not judging others for their past and robbing from their future because our motto is if you're willing to extend your hand then we're willing to life you up! These participants at least have a positive support system willing to take a chance in them many of whom first came here with saggin pants street hood mentality low self esteem and feeling beaten and we help transform their lives into clean shaven decent hair cuts white shirts & ties respectful mannersim while placing God back in their lives and also giving them an opportunity to honestly make a living intead of selling drugs joining gangs and getting involved or sweept up in crimes and their community but society still look to find faut or blame but the book of Mathrew 7; 1-2 says DO NOT JUDGE OR YOU WILL BE JUDGED" for the same way you judge others you too shall be judged. and also Proverbs 15:2 says The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing but the mouth of fools speaks foolishness therefoe it is better to be tought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubts"

I had the near exact experience as the person who wrote the Graceful Hands report. I am near Cleveland, Ohio. Nice enough guy I tried to be respectful of. He gave me the story of his terrible past and this opportunity for redemption he was seeking. I listened a long time. I asked a bunch of questions. He stopped his speech when he saw I was taking out my wallet. He barely said another word while I oferred him a twenty dollar bill. He grabbed it and gave me a receipt and said his name was Jerry Chaney. I thought it was a funny choice to beg as a way to redeem oneself, and after investigating the company, I would say there seems to be something fishy about the whole thing. It just didn't feel right. Worst of all, these are the kind of things that make people just say no to everyone, even the deserving ones. You just can't know who is for real these days. There was no mention of magazines. I would have said no right away. I just wanted to help, but really wonder what I did.

I just had a very nice young African American man come to my door collecting donations for Graceful Hands, the charitable side for this organization.  As I understand the organization's response, they have both a for-profit wing that allows troubled young, inner-city adults to sell magazine subscriptions, as well as a charitable wing that allows them to collect donations in the organization's name.  

Overall, he presented the organization and himself very well,  and I was moved to give them a small donation promising to look into the charity's work and decide if I would be interested in becoming a more involved supporter/donor.  

From what the young man said, the organization seems to be giving him and others a helping hand through difficult times and I'm eager to support such work (even though it seems to be a church-based Christian organization -- since I consider myself a secular humanist and do not personally believe in any sort of super-natural super-Being -- but do very much believe in a moral imperative to help my fellow human beings in any legitimate way I can).  

Of course, I'm about to do a little more research online and try to figure out if I taken advantage of (been there, done that --lol).  Or, was I right in my assessment of this young man and the organization he represents?  Time will tell, I suppose. 

The little I have read seems to suggest that perhaps the founder of the organization might be taking advantage of young people like the man who knocked at my door -- raising half the money for him and his organization.  

In the end, who knows?!  I would have been happy to just help this young man all by himself.  But, since he's gone to the trouble to affiliate himself with an organization that he honestly at least SEEMS he trusts, I'm happy they at least split the money.

Today a very nice and well dressed African American man came to my door.  I had a good feeling about him, so I let him in.  He sat and talked to me for quite a while, maybe 30 minutes.  This man, when I look back, was genuine and sincere.

He showed me where someone had shot him once, finally.  He told me all about the program and how much he wishes to be a mentor after gathearing so many points from so many sales.  He honestly had so much to tell me, because I made him aware that I was going to have to check things out before buying anything.

I looked in the computer and saw how the prices of the magazines are so much less than what he had to offer.  He explained how half of the money goes to him, upon his sale.  He also informed me of the people who he saw walk into the program and how they changed.

I looked up the organization for which he worked.  Under scams, there was an address very close to the address on his paper.  It was not the same adress, yet very close to the one written on the top of this pad of papers which he showed me.

You see, I tend to trust people and I wish to belive that strangers are honest and true.  People have warned me over and constantly not to trust so much or I will be taken advantage of.  Scared, I looked up the same company mentioned earlier.  I saw the complaint reported.

I wish that I had given the man more credit.  I decided that I would give him a check directed just to him.  I told him how I belived in him, i just did not know about the organization for which he wroked.  He was such a good man.

Looking back, I really wish that I had paid the high cost of the magazine and taken a risk.  Just today I was wishing that I gave more financially to organizations.  I do not know that I did right or wrong.

I had called my father to ask him his opinion, right in front of the man.  Dad was not home.  I called the guy who I am dating and he told me to buy a subscription for a magazine that I wished for.  He did not have time to even read magazines, he let me know.

The man left my home, happy to be in the rain, for it is raining.  I had insisted that he take an umbrella.  I was honestly scared that he was also being taken advantage of by a company.  

The man is not here anymore, yet my memory is.  I can say "no" to people in New York who try and get me to buy things or go into clubs.  I can say "no" to pushy sales people.  Looking back, I do belive that this man was genuine.  

I just hope that he does not get in trouble for taking all his time with me.  He returned the umbrella before he was picked up.  I liked everything that he said and I wished to support him.  

I also did not believe that I had the amounts of money to spend on the books, magazines or the other thing that he sold.

Late on tonight, my father told me not to buy from door to door salesmen.  I wish that people could be trusted.   I wish that the other door to door salesmen had not acted dishonestly, leaving me in doubt of this man.  

Dear Robert,

We are disappointed to hear of your unfortunate encounter with one of our agents who obviously did not communicate well with you our position regarding our direct sales training business organization Urban Development Solutions and our not for profit arm - Graceful Hands.

Graceful Hands is a new not-for profit formed to help support direct sales agents working on 100% commission with basic needs like housing, food, grooming, work clothing and social services such as career development and life skills management until they are able to maintain a sustainable
income. Our 501(c)3 tax exemption status application with the IRS which allows us to collect taxdeductible donations is in the pending manager review status. Our documented pending letter is being processed (and mailed to us within 30 days of this posting) and we have been given permission to collect small donations at this stage. Because we are in our infancy, there is little
information to be found on the internet yet regarding Graceful Hands. We are working to generate funds on our own before we are qualified to seek grants and sponsorship.

We strive to help young adults from the inner city and train them on proper communication skills. Unfortunately, sometimes there is an individual that may misrepresent what they are taught and exhibit traits that are not reflective of our organizations practices. If the agent you met was
having difficulty answering your questions, he should have presented you with the
documentation in his credential folder that better explains our mission and position. The sales of the magazines enable him to generate a sales income and Graceful Hands allows him to accept donations on behalf of the organization that will help with the implementation of basic needs and social support services.

Your post reads as if he confused the two which led to your discomfort. We would have been happy to explain the actual process to you had you called our toll free number or e-mailed us with your concerns. Our daily morning sales meetings are also open to the general public and we would have liked to have extended you an invitation to attend had you contacted us.

However, we do thank you for bringing this incident to our attention so we can enforce our guidelines and prevent further occurrences with all parties involved. Had you given more details identifying the individual or again, made direct contact with us, we could have reprimanded him directly. As for the other complaints you discovered, it is sometimes a difficult task to try and help at risk" individuals no matter how stringent our training may be because of their propensity to disobey structure. Unfortunately, some people attribute their surface level experiences in the field as the rule of the thumb for our organization without any direct due diligence and air their grievance in public without giving our principals an opportunity to properly address the situation.

That public grievance is then taken as fact without due process and unfairly convicts us in the court of public opinion. The recent incident with the White Houses Secret Service Staff is a prime example shows that counter culture activities take place among people regardless of their education and background, but it is not reflective of the training they received.

Please refer to our (Urban Development Solutions) A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau in our home state of Indiana here. http://www.bbb.org/eastern-michigan/business-reviews/magazine-sales/urban-development-solutions-inc-in-grosse-pointe-mi-45000580.

To verify Graceful Hands Inc. status with the IRS, please call them at 1-877-829-5500.

Feel free to contact us for further details below.
 
Respectfully,
Administration
Graceful Hands Inc.
3645 Marketplace Blvd. Suite# 130
Atlanta, GA 30344-5748
888-730-0156
info@gracefulhands.org
www.gracefulhands.org