COVINGTON, Ga. — The director and former director of the Nelson Heights Community Center are defending a check written for $450 last month to the Newton County Recreation Department for activity fees for three children.
Anthony Henderson, the agency's CEO, and his father, J.C. Henderson, a former Nelson Heights CEO and recently a board member, said the money came from a fund the center maintains that includes private donations to the nonprofit.
It is separate from one that includes funding the county government has given to it, they said.
Questions surrounded the check after its use was made public by some local government activists on social media recently.
The activists questioned whether the nonprofit Nelson Heights community center that operates inside a county-owned building was using money the county government allocated to it and other area nonprofits for personal uses, including recreation fees for relatives of the Hendersons.
Anthony Henderson, who is a Covington city councilman, said the nonprofit receives donations and uses them to help the community.
"This is not taxpayers dollars. It's our donation money that we received and raised, and we use it in the community," Anthony Henderson said.
He said the agency operates with two different accounts — one for the nonprofit and one for allocations from the county.
"We only receive $38,000 a year," he said. "The money we get from the county is barely enough.
"We've done nothing wrong," he added. "This is not money that's been allocated from the county."
The donated fees were used for two children related to the Hendersons, but also to pay the fees for an unrelated girl only identified as Tuggle, Anthony Henderson said.
The girl's parents requested the funds from the nonprofit because they could not afford the fees at the time, he said.
"They gave us the money back," he said. "She did not have the money at the moment.
"It's not the first time we've helped a person out. We've done this for many other kids in the community."
J.C. Henderson, who is a county commissioner and former CEO of the nonprofit, said the nonprofit also buys gifts, such as bicycles, for children at Christmas time.
"It's nothing illegal," he said of the check.
Anthony Henderson, who is listed as CEO for the agency on records filed with the Georgia Secretary of State's office, said, as a nonprofit, "that's what we're supposed to do."
He also referred to the timing of the allegations being near the recent Democratic Primary election for Board of Commissioners District 3 for which J.C. Henderson was a candidate for a seventh term.
"Right now it's election time — people are trying to tie things to a certain situation where it has nothing to do with it," he said.
Anthony Henderson told the Board of Commissioners during a recent series of budget hearings for nonprofits seeking county funding that the center plans to begin operations of a summer program this month after renovations that included installation of a commercial kitchen delayed operation of its after-school program.
He said the nonprofit also has hosted trash cleanup events and job fairs, among some other events, and received rental payments for special programs' use of the building.
It also is planning a food assistance program and restart of an after-school program, he said. The money it receives from the county primarily is used for upkeep of the building, Anthony Henderson said in budget documents.
J.C. Henderson, meanwhile, said he wants to use more than $640,000 in federal COVID relief money available for his county commission district for expansion of the community center building on Lassiter Street for a classroom for the after-school program.
He also wants to use part of the money to restock the center's community pantry and provide food boxes for the needy, according to information from the county.
Questions about the nonprofit's finances have swirled around the Hendersons for at least six years following allegations included in an audit that alleged J.C. Henderson illegally benefited from leading the agency.
The allegations were included in a 2016 audit that stated J.C. Henderson, who first formed the nonprofit in 2008, benefited financially from transactions totaling more than $42,000 from the county to the nonprofit.
David Sawyer of Frazier and Deeter CPAs and Advisors released the forensic audit in November 2016 that alleged Henderson “received preferential and financially beneficial treatment from the county” as an officer and founder of Nelson Heights Community Services Inc.
Sawyer’s report said that more than $42,648 was used for Nelson Heights, including $17,039 in legal fees, and Henderson “received preferential and financially beneficial treatment from Newton County.”
He also said in his report at least $42,148 of taxpayer funds “were used for undefined, wasteful or abusive purposes …”
County officials turned over the investigation to the FBI, which returned documents in 2021 to the county and indicated it found no criminal wrongdoing.
