REGINA, Saskatchewan, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- A Terry Fox Foundation official admits fabricated quotes by non-existent people were used to boost the popular Canadian cancer charity's efforts to raise money.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday a former foundation employee in Saskatchewan said he was told to make up stories that went into a booklet that was distributed to more than 1,000 donors.
University of Regina graduate student Gregory Procknow said he was assigned the task of fabricating the stories about fundraising activities this year. One example was "Norma Rae from Saskatoon," who was quoted as saying she would "make jars of jellies and pickles and attach a Terry Fox sticker to the jars, and I allow people to make donations of any kind and take away a wonderful autumn treat!"
Procknow said he didn't like his duties and quit during the summer.
"Who can really take pride in creating fictitious people and assigning them a gender and a name and parlaying this to the public. It's just really disgusting," Procknow said.
Robert Barr, director of the foundation's Saskatchewan office, confirmed to the CBC he directed Procknow to write the fundraising stories.
"The fundraising ideas outlined in our newsletter are based on events that supporters have used over time in various parts of the country," Barr said in a written statement. "I admit to an error in judgment in assigning first names to the ideas."
