Sunday, May 13, 2012

Trayvon Martin’s Mother Got 8 Months of Donated Vacation Time (Martin's Family To Be Paid Advocates)


The Miami Herald ^ | Friday, May 11, 2012 | Frances Robles



The mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin will be able to take about eight months of paid leave from her county job, thanks to the generosity of county employees.

Sybrina Fulton, who has worked at the Miami-Dade County housing authority for 23 years, collected $40,825 worth of donated vacation time, county records show. The paid time off is in addition to the nearly $100,000 the family raised on wepay.com and at rallies, which will be used to launch a criminal justice advocacy foundation in Trayvon’s name....SNIP

“They are using the money to continue the legacy of their son,” said Michael Hall, a graphic designer and marketing specialist who helped launch the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation. The parents created the nonprofit in March in response to their son’s killing. “They didn’t want a situation where people could say they were profiting off the loss of their son.”
Hall said Trayvon’s parents will become paid employees of the foundation, compensated for their time conducting speaking engagements and other advocacy work. He stressed that the foundation would keep Fulton and her ex-husband, Tracy Martin, at the levels of income they already made — not higher....SNIP
Tracy Martin is a truck driver, and it’s unclear whether he has been on paid or unpaid leave. He and Fulton were in England this week speaking at the University of London and were unavailable for comment.
“Don’t forget there are two people who need to be taken care of here,” Hall said. “A lot of the media focuses on Sybrina and forgets that Trayvon had a father, who lived here and co-parented.”
Hall is the unpaid interim executive director of the foundation. He expects to employ both parents and Trayvon’s older brother Jahvaris Fulton, who is working as an intern on the foundation’s social media strategy.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...

T-Shirt