A dispute between a homeless Georgia college student and a woman who set up a Gofundme account for his living expenses has ended.
Fred Barley, 19, reportedly rode his little brother’s bicycle over 50 miles from Conyers to Barnesville, GA. to register at Gordon College.
Campus police found him sleeping in a tent on the campus. The officers took him to a motel and paid for a room for 2 night.
But his luck didn’t end there.
A Barnesville soccer mom named Casey Blaney read about Barley’s situation in a local news story. She met him and set up a Gofundme page to collect funds for Barley’s living expenses.
“Please pray for him. Please share some life with him,” she wrote in a Facebook post on July 11. “If you want to help him with clothes, shoes, food, gift-cards, anything on your heart. Please let me know and I’ll get it to him. He’s worth it. I promise.”
Barley’s story made national news and the fund soon raised $184,000 in donations from the public.
But Barley resisted when Blaney hired a lawyer and attempted to place the money into a trust fund to pay the student’s school and living expenses.
Barley wanted to hire his own attorney and name his own trustee to dispense the funds.
He took to his Facebook page to complain bitterly about Blaney’s control over his money.
Blaney released a statement claiming questions had arisen about Barley’s homeless story. There were reports that his mother spent part of the money on clothing and a vacation.
But Gofundme froze the account so no monies were dispensed until an investigation was completed.
Facebook users took Barley’s side in the dispute, calling Blaney “greedy” and saying she wanted to get her hands on his money.
On Monday, Barley wrote a Facebook post explaining that his attorney and Blaney’s attorney had agreed on an establishment of the trust to pay his expenses.
“Mrs. Blaney would like to turn over everything to her lawyer, and does not want anything to do with the trust account any longer,” Barley said in his post. “Together, my attorney and her attorney are working cooperatively to ensure that all assets donated go strictly to me and in a trust that I agree with.
“Thank you everyone for your prayers and standing behind me through everything. God makes a way.”
Gofundme released a statement on Monday, saying progress had been made in the dispute, and as soon as the trust fund was “fully established, the funds will be directly transferred to the trust.”
