Depending on where you live you may have came into contact with a large yellow clothing donation drop box labelled Planet Aid. They seem to be everywhere and are the most common of clothing drop boxes. If you consider yourself a charitable person you may have even dropped old clothing in one of these boxes before. You feel good for doing a good deed, not throwing used clothes away, and someone in need can make good use of them. But is this assumption correct? Could you be funding a criminal enterprise?
Although its name may seem to suggest that the donated goods received go to the needy, Planet Aid states on their official website that nearly all goods are sold.
“Every day we load the bales into trailers for domestic buyers or in shipping containers for overseas customers. These loads may be sold to a sorting house or "grader"—a business that will go through the individual items and sort them according to type and quality.
Approximately half of the clothes are sent to recycling centers where non-wearable items can be repurposed into new things. The other half is in good enough condition to sell again.”
The organization goes on to state that it is better that the used clothes are sold rather than being thrown away and creating more waste, which is plausible statement. But they also say that the clothes aren’t given away for free because the demand for used clothes in the U.S. is not high enough and that donating them to developing countries would do more harm than good. Both former reasons are more than debatable.
Planet Aid has been scrutinized by several charitable watchdogs for its practice of selling the donated goods as well as the large profits it brings in annually. According to CharityWatch.org, Planetary Aid grossed $41 million in 2014 from sales. While these are good reasons to be more than weary of Planet Aid, there is an even more sinister side.
Funding from Planet Aid profits go to a group called Tvind or The Teachers Group, which is considered by former members and its other adversaries as a mind controlling cult.
“I would say it is a cult, it's a political organization, even a charitable organization. It's a chameleon. And at the same time they grow bigger and bigger," said Danish journalist Thomas Stockholm, who has made several in-depth documentaries on Tvind.
Tvind also receives funds from Humana People-to-People, the Gaia Movement Trust, UFF, DAPP and even grants from the U.S. government.
“The US government has also spent more than a $130 million on Planet Aid. If you're paying taxes, you're contributing, through some very special grant programs run by the US Department of Agriculture,” said Al Letson from the Center for Investigative Reporting on a Reveal Radio broadcast.
In 2002 the charismatic guru-like founder and leader of Tvind, Mogens Amdi Petersen, was arrested in Los Angeles, California after having been in hiding for 22 years. He was extradited to Denmark for charges that amounted to $24 million in fraud. But in 2007 Petersen fled Denmark and has been a fugitive wanted by Interpol ever since. It is alleged that currently Tvind has 140 offshore companies and bank accounts.
In the grand scheme of things this story should not lead the reader to become uncharitable but to definitely research the organization they are donating to. A good way to donate used clothes and goods are to small houses of worship, homeless shelters and missions, or directly to those in need in your own area, community, or family. The best resource we can give is our own time, work, and love.
You have to research everything these days.
Trả lờiXóaIndeed, sometimes we may do more harm than good without even knowing it. -Johan NMJ
Trả lờiXóa