AmericanWill bins appearing in area
When Stephen Vial noticed the bright, yellow collection box bearing the name “AmericanWill” on their property on Paul Maillard Road in Luling, the first thing he wondered was when they gave permission to place it there.
Vial soon determined that never happened.
“I don’t know who that is and nobody gave them permission to place it there,” said Vial of the bin placed at the shopping center site that includes CVS. “It makes you think … humm.”
He dialed the “report a problem” phone number on the box and left a message on Jan. 4.
To date, neither he nor the St. Charles Herald-Guide have gotten a callback.
What Vial knows is Habitat for Humanity got approval to place its box there and it will stay there. He could not pinpoint how long the yellow box with its tin roof and roughly homemade structure has been there, but he says if AmericanWill is not a legitimate it will be removed.
“It still could be legit, but why just stick it there without asking permission?” Vial said.
That’s what Councilman Paul Hogan is asking, particularly since he’s learned these same boxes – yellow and orange – are appearing alongside legitimate nonprofit ones, mostly Goodwill bins, throughout the area, as well as the state of Louisiana.
Hogan said he’s been told it’s possible that the owners of these bins are collecting items intended for charity, cleaning them and selling them for a profit. He’s been told the owners of these bins have been run out of areas like Lafayette, Slidell and Kenner.
Hogan said he wants to introduce an ordinance that would require a permit to place donation boxes in the parish. It would call for a fee that would be waived for nonprofits.
Non-legit collection boxes appearing in parking lots is not a new problem with many of them being found throughout the nation.
One of the most copied of them is the readily recognized Goodwiil Industries bins, but the problem extends to the organizations themselves.
Locally, Sabrina Written, marketing and public relations director with Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, confirmed there has a proliferation of counterfeits.
“I have not personally seen these AmericanWill yellow boxes, but I can tell you that there are a proliferation of ‘for profit’ parking lot donation bin operators whose proceeds don’t always end up supporting nonprofit causes,” Written said. “More often, these clothing collection bins are being operated by for-profit recycling firms that give only a small portion of their proceeds to nonprofit organization (sometimes in turn for the use of their name on the box).”
Written added all their stores have convenient donation drop-off zones at a store location itself, which will include their new store opening in Luling on Jan. 19 on U.S. Highway 90 near the Wal-Mart SuperCenter.
“Goodwill Industries encourages the public to be aware of who they are giving to and provided guidelines,” she said.
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