A Clothing Scam is Plaguing Illinois Right Now?

Since we moved a few months ago I've realized we moved a whole bunch of stuff we didn't need. We had a garage sale before we moved and got rid of a LOT of stuff, but many unneeded items survived that first purge, and it is now time to get them gone. (Let me also admit that most of the items that need to go are mine, especially clothes I never wear).

Normally I would take my bags of stuff and donate them to the Salvation Army, but the other day I noticed this clothes donation bin for "Helping Hands" in Pecatonica, which would be a pretty quick trip to give some of my old clothes new life.

As I sit here and I write this I literally have 2 bags of clothes I was going to drop in that bin today, and then I saw an article on mystateline.com about the controversy of these same bins in Rockford. Robert Wilhelmi, Brownfields Redevelopment Specialist for the City of Rockford recently told WTVO;

what we're looking at here in a bin that appears to have been set up by a for-profit commercial entity.

Most likely, the clothing coming out of this bin will be going into a resale shop.”

Basically, the City of Rockford feels that these clothing bins are a scam and are preying on the giving spirit of the community during the holiday season and that donating to a local non-profit is a much better way to go.

Arian Toska, Helping Hands’ Chief Operating Officer responded to the concerns of the City by telling WTVO;

We specifically say that we’re a for profit company, we’re not embarrassed to be a for profit company.

Toska also said the bins specifically say "Commercial Recycling Business" on them, and that the company's main goal is to keep clothes out of landfills.

Ideally, I think we would all like to see our old clothes go to someone who needs them, but really, isn't the main goal to just get them out of our house?