A bankruptcy of good will 

 By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist, 2/8/2000 

       hat blood battle between the former BankBoston and the South End
soup kitchen it appeared hellbent on
       vanquishing has finally drawn to an end. And Chad Gifford, the
bank's chief self-preservationist, must be
       delighted with the result.

 What's not to delight in? With one swoop, Gifford's bank was able to
settle a pesky court suit and still save $2,000 on
 the backs of the Haley House and its hundreds of needy clients. All the
while, he was able to teach a valuable lesson
 to the do-gooders who run the program: The bottom line is the only line
in the world of Boston business.

 Some background: A pair of men in a job-training program at the soup
kitchen forged $19,000 in Haley House checks
 on its BankBoston account. Because kitchen volunteers were updating its
accounting program, it took several months
 to discover the thefts. When workers finally did, BankBoston blamed the
shelter for the problem and paid only $2,000
 of the missing $19,000.

 So the Haley House, which in its three-decade history had never reported
a single financial indiscretion, filed suit. The
 $17,000, they said, represents a lot of meals to a lot of hungry people
who arrive at their doors as early as 5:30 a.m. in
 search of something hearty to get them through the day.

 But BankBoston refused to budge. Executives said there were larger issues
at play, that they couldn't reward
 irresponsible behavior, that they must, in the words of bank spokesman
Jim Mahoney, ''maintain consistent business
 practices.''

 Consistent? Recall BankBoston's role in September as one of the most
extravagant sponsors of the Ryder Cup golf
 tournament, where it raised a corporate tent at The Country Club fit for
a Roman orgy. Expensive liquors flowed with
 abandon, gourmet breakfasts and lunches were ferried about by uniformed
staff to wealthy clients who were flown to
 the gala first class from around the world - all on BankBoston's tab.

 The total bill: at least $1.2 million, not to mention the other $1
million the bank spent sponsoring a senior tournament
 over the summer.

 Bank officials said yesterday that Gifford, formerly chairman and CEO of
BankBoston and now the number-two
 executive in Fleet Boston Corp. since Fleet Financial bought BankBoston,
didn't learn of the fight with Haley House
 until he read about it in this space in October. Gifford is generally
active in the city's philanthropic circles, and
 BankBoston had a reasonable record of community involvement.

 By January, an outside lawyer called the Haley House lawyers to propose a
settlement that BankBoston previously
 had vowed would not be reached. ''We evaluated the money involved and
decided it would probably cost us more in
 legal fees than anything else and why drag it out any further?'' said
spokesman Bruce Spitzer.

 In good faith, the Haley House accepted partial blame for the thefts and
suggested that the bank give it $9,000 in cash
 and send over some furniture that would otherwise be discarded in the
ongoing consolidation with Fleet.

 ''We have a need for tables and chairs in the soup kitchen,'' said
Kathleen McKenna, the director of the Haley
 House. ''There's always a need for office furniture. We have the oldest
fax machine in creation.''

 The bank refused.

 So the soup kitchen said they'd take $9,000 and have the bank sponsor a
job-training candidate at the Haley House
 bakery, at a tax-deductible cost of roughly $10,000.

 The bank refused again.

 ''They indicated that they were disinclined to do anything socially
redeeming, and they paid us $15,000 in cash,'' said
 Jim Schuh, the Haley House lawyer, who worked for free.

 Yesterday, McKenna stood in the ramshackle office she shares with so many
volunteers and talked only of hope. The
 ceiling was caving in atop desks that were a relic from another time.
There was no heat.

 No matter. There were miracles unfolding around every corner and in each
crevice of the ancient townhouse.
 Downstairs, 100 or so poor and homeless people arrive for breakfast each
morning, sitting at rickety card tables to
 have their only good meal of the day. In the late afternoon, the local
elderly arrive to break up the loneliness that marks
 their lives.

 One nun teaches men computer skills in a dining room nook. A bakery
storefront trains the unskilled for jobs. A
 volunteer gives free eye exams and fits the homeless with old glasses.

 Every day, the Haley House saves lives, or at least souls. On one recent
day, Fleet Boston Corp. saved $2,000.
 Kathleen McKenna will live just fine with that.

 Brian McGrory's e-mail address is 

 mcgrory@globe.com.

 This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 2/8/2000. 



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