NAPLES, Fla. — The Salvation Army has declined a $100,000 donation from a lottery winner because a local official didn’t want money linked with gambling.
David L. Rush, 71, announced shortly before Christmas he planned to share some of his winnings from the Florida Lotto with the charity. He had one of the four winning tickets in the $100 million lottery jackpot drawing of Dec. 14 and took a $14.3 million lump sum payment, the Associated Press reported.
Maj. Cleo Damon, head of the Salvation Army in Naples, Fla., told Rush he couldn’t take the money and returned the check, which another official of the evangelical organization had accepted.
“There are times where Maj. Damon is counseling families who are about to become homeless because of gambling,” said spokeswoman Maribeth Shanahan.
“He really believes that if he had accepted the money, he would be talking out of both sides of his mouth.”
Rush made other charitable donations — $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity and $50,000 to the Rotary Club of Marco Island — that were accepted.
“Everybody has a right to be sanctimonious if they want to be,” said Rush.
“I respect the Salvation Army’s decision. I do not agree with it, but that is their prerogative.”
Rush, a financial adviser, said he has made monetary donations to the Salvation Army for four decades.
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