NU CREATIONS OUTREACH, ARLESA DANIEL, DAMONE DANILE, ARLESA HENRY

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Workers who helped collect donations for a charity group say they were not paid adequately and question where the funds are going. The organization, "Nu Creations," has been in the Bakersfield area for a couple months, and its representatives say they are helping the homeless.

Kimberly Baumgardner said her family is very close to being homeless, and so she really needed the job. But the Nu Creations supervisor had her work in front of the 99 Cent store in northeast Bakersfield all day, and she was paid very little.

"They opened up the (collection) box and counted it," Baumgardner said. "They split it with me, and I got $62 out of it. After 14 hours, I was standing on my feet,"

Baumgardner and her husband, Oly, are both out of work and struggling to take care of their three young boys. Oly Baumgardner said he had a job in Portland with United Van Lines and was offered a transfer to the southern California area. A couple weeks later, he was laid off.

They ended up in Bakersfield because they have friends here. 

"But you can only stay with friends so long," Kimberly said. They stayed at a homeless shelter for a while, then took the jobs with Nu Creations when friends told them about it.

Oly Baumgardner said he worked outside a FoodsCo store for a couple hours, but he was "being hassled" by a store worker. That's when he called supervisor Danyell Daniel to pick him up, and pay him.

"She made me stand by the door (of the store), she went to her car, counted, and came back and handed me 20 dollars," Oly said. He's convinced he should have been paid more.

Kimberly says if she was got $62 dollars for 14 hours work, that was far less than minimum wage. Both admit they didn't ask how much they would get paid. They said other workers told them the pay would be 50 percent of what they collected in the locked boxes.

Phillip Roghair has worked for Nu Creations for about a month, and he's satisfied with the group and how they treat him.

"I've had nothing but good with this organization," he said Wednesday afternoon outside a Union Avenue motel. It's the same place where the Baumgardners are living. And, that's where two spokespeople for Nu Creations showed up.

Danyell Daniel, the supervisor, said the workers are paid adequately. She disputed the number of hours the solicitors are at the locations. Daniel said workers may be picked up at 7:30 a.m., but they don't start work until 9:00 a.m. She says the work day ends at 7:00 p.m., and workers get a half-hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks.

Daniel said workers are paid a portion of the donations that are in the collection box, and it is at least the minimum wage. She said the group doesn't continue to hire any people who don't bring in enough funds. She insisted some workers just don't turn out to be "people people." 

Roghair told Eyewitness News he is paid half of what he collects, and he thinks that works out to be at least minimum wage.

Daniel said the group is based in Oakland, they are trying to set up a shelter for homeless women and children in Bakersfield. She said the group gave out local assistance baskets at Thanksgiving -- 30 to low-income families, and ten to veterans. Daniel said they plan to hand out more baskets just before Christmas.

A man with Daniel identified himself as the "public relations" spokesman for the group. Damone Daniel also insisted the group has the right to collect donations in front of stores, even if they have a no-solicitation policy. Eyewitness News investigated that issue after seeing a Nu Creations worker at the Target in northeast Bakersfield.

Damone Daniel said the area in front of a store is "public," and the group has the right to freedom of speech there. 

But, the Baumgardners are upset with their experience with the organization.

"When I left that night, I just felt very uneasy," Kimberly Baumgardner said. "I had to find a way to make money to be OK that night,"

Both parents said that's why they hoped the jobs would work out. They needed the pay, and they felt good about helping others. But, both said they do not believe in this organization.

"People might say this is just a vendetta, or they're mad," Oly Baumgardner said. "It's not that."

"We have a family, three children," Kimberly Baumgardner said. "We're in that position, it's (the funds) not going where it needs to go. It's not right what they're doing."