Is Jill Duggar & Derick Dillard’s ‘missionary work’ just a huge scam?

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We haven’t discussed Jill Duggar and her husband Derick Dillard in a while. That’s because shortly after they welcomed baby Israel, they got the hell out of Dodge. In the wake of Josh Duggar’s original scandal, the molestation scandal, the Dillards left for El Salvador to do “missionary work.” For what it’s worth, both Derick and Jill did have real jobs before this trip – she was a midwife (or training to be a midwife) and he was some kind of manager with Walmart. They quit their jobs to go gallivanting in El Salvador, never to be heard from again. Except they have flown back to Arkansas at least three times this summer. Which begs the question: are they really doing “missionary work” or are they just talking a long vacation and flying back home whenever they feel like it?

Fans are beginning to question whether Jill Duggar and her husband are spending donated money on mission work or for personal expenses. The 24-year-old former reality TV star and her husband, Derick Dillard, left with their infant son in late June — just weeks after she admitted that eldest brother Josh Duggar had molested her and three other sisters — for a lengthy mission trip to El Salvador.

The couple solicits donations through their Dillard Family Ministries, which an IRS representative confirmed was listed as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

But fans have questioned the couple’s travel after Derick and Jill Dillard have apparently flown back to the U.S. at least three times — including this weekend, when they attended cousin Amy Duggar’s wedding in Bentonville, Arkansas — since leaving about two months ago.

“Jill and Derick are back in the states AGAIN !!!!!!!” complained fan Daisy Shay on the couple’s Facebook page. “THEY TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH BUT WANT US TO DONATE AND GIVE THEM MONEY…they entire Duggar cult lives and breathes for media attention now that the gravy train ran dry Jessa jumps in front of every camera in desperation. Narcissist behavior.”

Another fan cautioned Rolfe not to expect an explanation from the Duggar family about the couple’s spending: “You will never get a straight answer, you are just financing their extended vacation,” said Claudia Brown.

Jill Dillard flew to New York City last month to participate in a TLC program on sex abuse, and some fans have questioned whether the couple even went to El Salvador — where they claim to be ministering to gang members.

“People wise up,” warned fan Nikita Jones. “Can’t you tell when you’re being scammed? They’re taking trips to places that YOU can’t afford and they’re doing it with YOUR money. They have no credibility, they are NOT transparent with what they’re doing with your donations and they could care less about you. If you want to donate to charities, start locally. I’m sure there are people in YOUR community that are more deserving than these scammers.”

[From Raw Story]

Oh ho ho. When the Duggar-loving wingnuts turn on Jill Duggar, it might be time to pack it up and go home. Jill is like the most sympathetic of all the Duggar kids and I actually think her marriage to Derick seems pretty strong. But yes, they totally quit their jobs to “minister to gang members,” which is Duggar-code for “drinking mojitos on the beach.” There’s nothing wrong with drinking mojitos on the beach, but you can’t take people’s money in the name of charity to do that.

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Photos courtesy of the Dillards’ social media.

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103 Responses to “Is Jill Duggar & Derick Dillard’s ‘missionary work’ just a huge scam?”

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  1. Abbott says:

    Grifters gonna grift.

    • minx says:

      Ha! Just said the same thing downthread.

    • smith says:

      I really can’t stand the doe-eyed, big toothy grins of all the Duggar girls. Maybe I’m bringing to much to the party but it feels like a cult-ish combination of Stepford-wife, “aren’t I cute/lovable/innocent,” something about Jesus and “save me.”

      Creeps. Me. Out.

    • QQ says:

      Crifting 4 Jesus , dont you know??

      The best is that these are the types to impose themselves on someone else and act like the others are godless savages when they might have their own values and belief system but are poor enough to know that humoring the Gringos condescending colonial patronizing Twattery is the best way to get some services and help in their desperately poor countries ( see the white lady that was disappointed “africa” had a mall and modern conveniences and was prepared for dirt floors thus couldnt fall in love with “africa”), why didn’t they go to cleveland to do this trash for example?

      https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/it-didnt-happen-like-i-thought-it-would/

      • whipmyhair says:

        From a missionary standpoint, east Africa isn’t a place that could be considered in need of missionaries. There are many strong Christian communities; who can talk about their faith living in those areas.

        People like that annoy me no end. They ‘go on a short term mission trip’ which ends up being a holiday that makes you feel better about yourself. Tick those Christian boxes.

        As a Christian I have very strong views about missionary work, and people who come in with an air of “white people here to save the savages in deepest, darkest Africa ” piss me off.

      • LAK says:

        OMG that blog post!!!!!

        are we sure it isn’t performance art?

        for someone to be disappointed that Nairobi is a cosmopolitan city rather than a hellhole??!!!

        I’m glad people are telling her off.

        those bloody ignorant [urban and oxford definitions] missionaries.

        Poverty tourism at its finest.

      • QQ says:

        Lak Lisssttteeennn I had to stay with that Crazy Lady for the remainder of her slow crash “Mission” like it only got more victim complex and unaware and Maudlin and cringey from there… she liked it so much better though once she went to the proper poor parts and would spout jewels about how black people were so naturally musical so they could just pick up the instruments and whatnot… I highly recommend that and the comments for a belly laugh

      • Abbott says:

        Hey, hey, I’m from the streets of Cleveland (and by that I mean the suburbs, which has many lovely streets).

        That blog post… the comments did help alleviate the rage hernia that was festering.

      • insomniac says:

        What in the sweet blue hell did I just read!? Massive entitlement and jaw-dropping ignorance, all in blank verse poetry.

        I don’t think I have enough popcorn to get through all those comments, either.

      • LAK says:

        QQ: i think i’m having a rage aneurysm right now.

      • QQ says:

        Oh no disrespect at all Abbott I have TONS of gfs from Cleveland and those girls are just as proud of their hometown, you know what I mean, Like have them Try go with that delusional superiority complex wrapped in proselytizing in an actual hurting urban community in the good old USA (skid Row, B-More, etc ) and see how that pans out, instead of shoving this stuff down on people from other countries where language/intent/subtext might be a barrier and where they would be seen as aliens to the culture, ya know??

      • LAK says:

        Never forgetting this clusterF*** brought to us by bloody missionaries

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2W41pvvZs0

      • Abbott says:

        I know whatchu mean, QQ 😉

      • BooBooLaRue says:

        testify

    • Helen says:

      😜you crack me up ! lmfao

    • I Choose Me says:

      Truer words have never been spoken.

  2. Dawn says:

    Only they know. And it wouldn’t be the first time that someone used god to fill their own pockets and it certainly will not be the last.

  3. Lilacflowers says:

    But they’re doing the work of Jaysus, down there in El Salvador trying to show all those Catholics how to be Christians. We must support them by sending them all our money. Now!

    • whipmyhair says:

      Well we know what the Duggars think about Catholics. Pretty much heathens.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      Funny how the Catholics send unsalaried, unmarried priests and nuns all over the world to feed the hungry, care for the sick, and teach for years at a time but these poor little cult “missionaries” cannot do much more than pray and proselytize nor go more than a month without flying back home.

      • Pinetree13 says:

        All missionary work is a scam. Hey always go under the guise of charity but really their sole purpose is to convert others and impress those back home.

        If even regular missionaries really cared they would hire local skilled labour to build houses and such rather than fly there wasting money to build houses they aren’t qualified to build, the cost of those flights could go to local construction workers. The whole thing is dumb. Anybody who thinks missionary work is actually helpful is naive.

      • Josephine says:

        @ Pinetree13 – while I agree that missionary work done by religious sects whose religion requires them to try to convert people is exceptionally bogus, I think Mother Teresa would disagree with you that all missionary work is a scam. Many missionaries care for those who no one else will care for – not just lepers, but people considered too low in the caste system to even look at, for example.

      • Ange says:

        Josephine have a really good read into Mother Theresa some day, she was the worst of them all. If anything she is guilty of mass manslaughter or something like that, an absolute sociopath.

      • A~ says:

        I’m always suspicious of painting with too broad a brush. A lot of the American doctors who worked during the Ebola epidemic were missionaries. And I’m not the slightest bit religious. And I think the Duggers are scammers. But to say all missionaries are seems a bit of an overstatement.

  4. minx says:

    Grifters gotta grift.
    What, are they supposed to get real jobs, or something?
    And although I despise Derick and his cat-threatening ways, he actually does have a degree in, I think, accounting. He did work for Wal Mart in some kind of business/accounting capacity, unlike Ben Seewald, who picks up trash, or something, for JimBob.

  5. Citresse says:

    Dillard, smoke much?

  6. Burn out says:

    WHEN will be free from having to see these people and their names in a headline?

  7. Jayna says:

    Their missionary work is to convert people to their form of Christianity. That’s it. No building shelters for the poverty stricken, no helping the orphaned, no helping with food supply to the poor, on and on. Nope, just big excitement when they convert someone.

    And the fact that they’ve flown back home several times already is very interesting. Get those donation dollahs, Duggars.

    • Joaneu says:

      Agreed. Frankly, who would take an infant to that kind of place, around those kind of people? El Salvador and Guatemala, amongst other places, are extremely dangerous. I also get the feeling that they are not rubbing elbows with the locals.

      As @lilacflowers said above, go and save those poor Catholic souls …

      • dana says:

        “Frankly, who would take an infant to that kind of place, around those kind of people?”

        I ask myself that same question whenever a member of this family starts having kids, though by “that kind of place, around those kind of people”, I’m usually referring to the Duggar household and Jim Bob/Michelle/Josh.

    • dana says:

      I imagine that like many Christian fundamentalists, these two probably think that prioritizing “good works” like helping the needy is deviant Catholic foolishness.

      • nobodyspecial says:

        I get the feeling that if they make people suffer, they feel it’s good for them. Kind of like green stamps. Collect ’em, mix ’em, match ’em, trade ’em with your friends. Except these are people. This type of more Xtian-than-thou never seems to actually imitate Jesus, so much as use him for an excuse.

    • lucy2 says:

      Of course they wouldn’t actually go to help people. Heaven forbid they actually try to be Christ-like.
      I don’t care for the idea of going to someone else’s home and trying to convert their belief system, but I do know there are lots of faith based groups that do go out and do things to really help people in need. But there’s not a chance anyone in that Duggar religion thinks that way.

  8. Kaye says:

    After looking at these pics, I’m wondering if some of the money didn’t go to Derick’s dental work. I believe he’s wearing “clear” braces in the top piture, and it seems like his two front teeth have been shortened to match the rest of his upper teeth. Maybe it’s the angle , , , or maybe it’s veneers?

  9. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I wonder if they practice those wide-eyed “innocent” looks in front of their mirrors. I’m betting yes. Scam artists.

  10. Booboo says:

    At least he used some of that grifted money for clear braces. Which brings me to my next point. Metal braces have to be tightened/adjusted every month. Is there an orthodontist In the wilds of El Salvador?

    • CG says:

      I had Invisalign! You wear one set of the clear braces for two weeks, then you move onto the next set. It’s been a long time but I think you can go six or eight weeks without having to go in for a checkup to make sure everything’s progressing as it should? (I ended up being in mine for 18 months, which is way longer than average, so my experience was probably different from somebody who only had them for six months.) So as long as he had three or four or five sets of the braces, he wouldn’t need to fly back to the States to see an orthodontist for a while.

      • Izzy says:

        But he’s not using Invisalign or something like it. They’re actual braces – just made of clear plastic instead of metal.

    • bokchoi says:

      fwiw – my sons braces cost me $9000.

    • jwoolman says:

      They’re probably not in the wilds but in a regular city (“gang members”, remember, not “farmers”), where there would be a comfortable place to live for someone with US dollars to spend. Also dental work would be cheaper than in the U.S.

      It’s probably pretty safe for people like them. They aren’t objecting to the status quo. Back in the dark days of the Reagan and Bush Administrations, Salvadoran death squads slaughtered the Jesuits at the University in San Salvador, but those ornery priests were actually promoting such terrible things as sharing with the poor…. I actually transcribed an interview between a local priest and one of the Salvadoran priests who was later murdered. There weren’t too many Jesuits there on the affected countries, but the ones in Nicaragua and El Salvador begged American Jesuits to come down and see the situation for themselves, because U.S. support for the contras attacking Nicaragua and the death squad-loving Salvadoran government was just devastating. My friend had to get a passport that identified him only as a teacher, no indication that he was a priest, because the Honduran government (under U.S. influence, the contra bases were there) wouldn’t let him into the country otherwise (those ornery Jesuits having that pesky reputation of working for change). He actually observed the election in Nicaragua, and talked with an American Jesuit working for the United Nations who said Nicaragua under the Sandinistas was the first place agricultural reform had actually worked (hence the U.S. drive to destroy it, bad example for the rest of Nicaragua succeeded in losing their dependence on food imports; US-trained and paid contras targeted farmers as well as teachers).

      Anyway – these two “missionaries” probably just needed to get away from all things Josh and get some cheap dental work done. Can’t figure out what background they have for ministering to gang members, and why they couldn’t do that anyplace in the U.S. We have plenty of gangs.

  11. grabbyhands says:

    Besides being hate spewing baby factories, scamming money out of their flock of rabid true believers seems to be the only thing any of them know how to do.

  12. BearcatLawyer says:

    Donors to their “charity” can always file complaints with the IRS or the Arkansas attorney general.

  13. Talie says:

    Those bags under his eyes look painful.

  14. Bluebell says:

    This is a bit off topic, but I wouldn’t say Jill was *the* most sympathetic Duggar. I would say that’s Jana. I do like Jill too though, from what I’ve seen of her she seems a sweet young woman.

    I think their missionary work is a bit of a grey area. They should be funding their own flights home, of course. We can’t really judge because we don’t have the receipts. Unless you have concrete evidence it’s a bit much to say they’re using fundraised monies to drink mojitos on the beach. Would they even drink mojitos? Some Christians choose not to drink alcohol.

    Anyway, Jill is a new mom and has been through a lot lately. I wouldn’t start attacking her for this when we haven’t got any evidence.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      “If they’re really committed Christians they might not drink alcohol.”

      Jesus drank alcohol.

      • Bluebell says:

        Apologies, that came out wrong. I’ll correct it.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        Thank you. Cheers. 🍷🍷🍷

      • nobodyspecial says:

        It’s the rest of us that need the booze.

      • jwoolman says:

        Jesus not only drank alcohol, he converted water into wine to help out at a party…. I doubt he would consider abstinence from alcohol as a mark of one of his followers. Heck, heretical me is a strict teetotaler. But yes, I think the Duggars don’t drink alcohol. Their cousin Amy made sure to have non-alcoholic beverages available at her wedding for her family (alcohol for others).

    • whipmyhair says:

      This is the family that thinks that dancing leads to sex. A male changing a baby girls nappy (diaper) leads to sex. Front hugging leads to sex. Being alone with a member of the opposite sex leads to sex.

      They don’t strike me as the drinking type.

    • Neah23 says:

      You seem to like Jill and don’t what to believe she would do thing like this, but the Dugger family, Jill also have all been called out for their false “missionary work for a while know. This is nothing new the only difference is now it’s no longer swept under the rug.

    • Beth says:

      Agreed on Jana. She is the Duggar daughter who is stuck as the live-in maid and gets swept under the rug. Now with the show off the air, I wouldn’t be surprised if she is rarely seen in public anymore.

      Personally, I find Jill off-putting. She doesn’t have Jessa’s smugness, but she always came off as disingenuous to me. And she seems like Michelle’s favorite. I once saw an interview with Michelle where she kept referring to Jill as her oldest daughter (umm, did she forget about Jana?) and talking about Jill was always so wise and mature. It is like Jana doesn’t even exist.

      • sp says:

        I suspect that after Jana raises all of Jimbob and Michelle’s kids she will be expected to take care of her parents.

    • Josephine says:

      Even if they are paying for the trips home themselves, hard to think that they are serious about missionary work when they are busy traveling home so often. I think the larger problem is that they allegedly refuse to account for how the money is being spent, and if that’s true, they deserve every bit of suspicion they get. It was also not necessary to fund-raise to do missionary work – there are excellent, established missions that would have happily taken them and could have more efficiently placed them. To me, doing their own fund-raising was all about controlling the money themselves.

  15. Murphy says:

    Excuse me–Jill has never had a real job. Ever.

  16. Sumodo1 says:

    Wait–they speak Spanish? How in the hell did Michelle Duggar homeschool Jill in Spanish? Something’s waaaaay wrong with this El Salvador scenario.

    A little OT: this link offers “vacation missions!”
    http://www.shorttermmissions.com/directory/country/el_salvador/?STM=06fe482200671a9fc2e921eee73a8333

    • Joaneu says:

      I’m ashamed to say I remember this info but …
      I believe Jill might have learned Spanish, at least the basics, from the mother of another family they know. One of the teenage boys – Joseph? – was courting their daughter called Marjorie. They called it quits when the first of the scandals broke.

      I learn so many useful things from Celebitchy. 🙂

    • lucy2 says:

      LOL, I’m picturing their version of Spanish as just talking loudly and adding an “O” to the end of every word and expecting people to understand them.

  17. K says:

    If you build your scam with a house of cards it will fall.

    These people are modern day tammi fay bakers with less makeup.

    I do have to ask why do people give to them? I get wanting to help and give to charities but like the posts said give locally or to registered international organizations not wingnuts on TV.

  18. frisbee says:

    I’d be more surprised if this family didn’t scam – they do everything else. Out of curiosity I had a look for other Christian Evangelical scandals and most of them seem to involve gay, underage or paid for sex rather than money. When they do money it’s big – in ’91 Robert Tilton scammed him congregation for $80 million –
    https://letmetellyouthis.wordpress.com/tag/list-of-christian-evangelist-scandals/
    From that article is looks like scamming is regular in the Evangelical community, alongside the misogyny, homophobia, hypocrisy, sexual abuse, you’ve got to hand it to this lot, they’ve got it all.

  19. Deb says:

    John Oliver on his show a couple weeks ago showed how easy it is to set up one of these fake ass religious charities. The grifting Duggars must have been tuned in. I guess this scam pays more than Walmart right?

    • FLORC says:

      THIS! That was an amazing episode too.

      • frisbee says:

        I’ve never heard of him (didn’t watch Mock the Week his show in the UK) but I thought I caught the hint of a Birmingham accent in one of the links above and it turns out he’s a Brummie like me!

  20. rahrahrooey says:

    As someone born in El Salvador I say this : Haven’t we been through enough? GO AWAY DUGGARS.

  21. Christine says:

    The backlash on this family is amazing. I’m not a fan of kicking someone when they’re down, but these people have gotten away with too much, too long.

    • minx says:

      That’s one good thing–comment sections on US and even People are about 99 percent anti-Duggar. It took a long time but people are finally sick of these grifters.

  22. Kori says:

    Hmm Duggar sheep lose money (and maybe get wise) and the Duggars aren’t actually spreading the word of Duggarness? Seems like a win-win.

  23. Zip says:

    I’d rather have them drink cocktails on the beach than convert other people to their cult. And whoever donates money to those people is an idiot.

  24. The Eternal Side-Eye says:

    Some people would let a poisonous snake and then be mad when it bites them.

    Some morons were still giving this family money and are now shocked/confused/mad that they may not be spending it on sending the gang members to the Lord between Eyes Wide Open and Eager Beaver?

    Guess they use their brain cells only to judge and block others rights.

  25. jc126 says:

    They’re repulsive.
    I wonder if these two sleazebags will now choose the letter I for their brood’s first names. Seems like pretty slim pickings compared to letters like D, M, J, etc. Or will they choose “meaningful” names along the lines of Israel – Moses, Faith, etc.

  26. Teri says:

    This is what Jill has done all of her life. I don’t think she really knows she’s wasting money that could be of real help. She thinks her presence is a testimony to everyone. At some point she will understand, then her actions will prove what she is. I don’t know about her husband. He contacted Jim Bob to be a prayer partner. Why? Because Duggar’s attract money or he wanted a Duggar wife to bring in money or because it was like a Christian dating service? As they mature and understand reality their actions will prove their motives.

  27. dibba says:

    looks like guy got invisalign braces. THEY counsel gang members?! LOL who takes a baby to do missionary work?

  28. chaine says:

    Of course it’s a scam. I have family members that do this same thing. They go on “mission” trips to Africa, India, Australia, Hawaii… all to convert people who are already Christians to their particular brand of Christianity. They don’t have a church that funds them, and they have no theological training, and they send constant form letters/emails begging for the rest of us to fund their “missionary” trips. Then we get pictures of them on a hike to an awesome waterfall that expresses God’s glory or something like that. It’s just a way for them to go backpacking in exotic places and come back with cool stories. I detest it. The Duggars are just more of the same.

    • Pinetree13 says:

      Exactly. All missionary work is a scam. Especially the ones that fly places to build houses while they preach. So now you have a group of unskilled people building a house when if they actually cared the money spent on flights and accommodation could be spent to hire locals instead who are actually skilled in trades and more qualified to build a proper house.

      It’s never about helping…only on giving the appearance of doing good

    • Green Girl says:

      You have spoken to the bottom of my cold heart. I know someone who goes on an annual mission trip overseas, and your post put into words why I’m frustrated with this person’s annual fundraising for the trip.

    • Ange says:

      Australia? Really? Yeah that’s a total scam, we aren’t some backwards jungle country with lost tribes wandering the land lol.

  29. Deb says:

    Those Duggar genes run deep…poor Israel looks just like Jim Bob.

    • Senaber says:

      This might be the saddest/ scariest comment of all.

      I don’t like them making money by being in the media, but I feel like it is going to be so much worse for those little kids when the cash train stops and no one is looking anymore.

    • The other paige says:

      I wonder why he looks so much like jim-bob??

  30. sauvage says:

    Of course it is.

  31. Vampi says:

    If I were a tax auditor I would be on The Duggars (TM) like stank on Kim Kardashian’s ass.

  32. Beantoes says:

    Where’s this young man getting his money? Dollars to donuts the executives at Walmart paid him to move off the grid. Now, name me one other employee who gets to take a (paid?) Christian Missionary Leave of Absense. The IRS needs to investigate these people. Too bad they’re knee deep in Arkansas politics.