Club finds mysterious donation bin in parking lot
Update: A tall white metal box marked for donations of clothing and shoes mysteriously appeared in the Ramona Woman’s Club parking lot one morning and it took nearly two weeks and repeated requests to have it removed.
Member Jill McKenzie, who handles property management for the woman’s club at 524 Main St., said no one contacted the club for permission to place the box there.
The label on the box said, “7th Generation Recycling, reduce reuse recycle” and listed an email address and toll-free number that yielded a recorded message to leave a name and callback number.
After the box was placed there April 14, McKenzie called and left messages for them to remove it, and said after seven days she received a response. The caller also asked for a time extension to pick up the bin, saying the “truck broke down,” said McKenzie, who gave the woman until Friday, April 22, to haul the box away. It was still there the following Monday.
On Tuesday, April 26, a neighboring business reported seeing a rental truck remove the box. However, the next day McKenzie said a person with 7th Generation called and informed her that the supervisor said the bin couldn’t be picked up that day because the “truck broke down.”
McKenzie said she told them it was picked up the day before in a rental truck and they needed to let the “supervisor” know.
She believes it is a scam. Comments can be found on the Internet of similar incidents occurring with 7th Generation.
Messages the Sentinel left with 7th Generation Recycling were never returned.
Original story: A tall white metal box marked for donations of clothing and shoes mysteriously appeared in the Ramona Woman’s Club parking lot last Thursday morning.
Member Jill McKenzie, who handles property management for the woman’s club at 524 Main St., said no one contacted the club for permission to place the box there.
“Our lot is posted private property,” she said.
The label on the box says, “7th Generation Recycling, reduce reuse recycle” and lists an email address and toll-free number that yields a recorded message to leave a name and callback number.
McKenzie called and left messages for them to remove the box, and said that after seven days she received a response. When she asked why they put a bin on property that was posted private, McKenzie said the caller told her they must have had the “wrong address.” The caller also asked for a time extension to pick up the bin, saying the “truck broke down,” said McKenzie.
Messages the Sentinel left with 7th Generation Recycling have not been returned.
McKenzie believes it is a scam. Comments can be found on the Internet of similar incidents occurring with 7th Generation.
On its website, 7th Generation bills itself as a for-profit group that is “dedicated to protecting the environment and supporting our local communities,” and says it partners with local nonprofits and other community groups. It states that drivers pick up donated items on an as-needed basis, typically once a week, and take them to a distribution center.
To deter people from placing items in the box while it remains in the club’s parking lot, McKenize put up a sign saying it is out of order and to donate items to Ramona Food and Clothes Closet, the nonprofit thrift store that donates proceeds to community groups and student scholarships.