What’s been happening in Collie’s world. Things were in a kind of holding pattern for the longest time. I am in the very wonderful position of having a lot of time on my hands and lot of time to imagine great things. My project The Healing Path, was well and truly stuck. I had finally found a secretary and a treasurer to sign a document for me. Lets call it document 1. Document 1 set out the rules and regulations for an association in France and it was clear I was not going anywhere without an association.
I had visited San Patrignano in the summer time and while I was there learning about social enterprise, addiction and recovery, I got news that I had received my first funding for the HP. So a bank account was important. However in France you can’t open a bank account for an association if you don’t have document1. Document 1 must state who the secretary, the treasurer and the chairperson of the association are. So we got all that done and sent it to the bank.
The bank manager rang telling me I needed a siren, a kbis and that I must post the association in the official journal. When I asked which journal was the official one, then the phone call descended into farce. I asked question after question, was LeMonde the official journal? Was it NiceMatin? She told me I could indeed post the information in these places but I would still have to post it in the official journal. I finally asked for an email outlining what was required, and I would google it and do it the rest.
Document 1 also allowed me to get document 2 which was a statement saying the association had been created. The Siren couldn’t be obtained without 1 and 2 and the Kbis couldn’t be obtained without the siren. After spending copious amounts of money to lawyers sites and automatically signing up in the small print for more money, for a year, which was unnecessary , and getting my money back by sending indignant emails, I finally got a siren. Almost the same thing happened for the Kbis, but I was wise to the trap this time and paid my 1.50 got my document then cancelled the subscription right away. All this because the legal government sites didn’t work.
We couldn’t have a bank account. We didn’t have everyone’s id and we didn’t have an designated controller of the bank account in Document 1. So we had another meeting where the treasurer had already decided this was too much stress and withdrew, and a new treasurer was elected/appointed. I got his passport details and sent all to the bank and finally we had an appointment fixed.
I got a phone call telling me the information wasn’t still quite correct as I hadn’t sent signed documents through ( I thought I had). Instead of arguing I reassured the bank I would bring signed documents to the appointment. The morning was me running around getting extra signatures just in case.
The meeting happened and I was informed that perhaps all was well and I should have a bank account in a few days.
That’s a bit to take in, but there is also the story, which is just as intense of trying to get someone to design a logo and a website, that I am willing to pay for, a phone line for the charity, house hunting for a place to live and trying to get an appointment with the bank to discuss a mortgage. Twice I asked and was informed no one was available so I informed them I would look elsewhere. The bank manager rang me within the hour and organised a meeting for the following Tuesday. Funny that. I will write up the rest later.