BEWARE THE YELLOW BIN

We've all seen them- big bright yellow metal bins, with a swirly global graphic and a website listing www.planetaid.org. Lately they are everywhere. SHOES AND CLOTHES DROP OFF. There they are in the Quickie-Mart parking lot, over by the diner, across from the post office. It's a convenient way to get rid of old long underwear and worn out work boots. Why drive all the way to Middletown to The Salvation Army or Goodwill? I'm sure the clothes go to the less fortunate in the area. Guess again.              
   Usually this would not raise any eyebrows. But, if there's one thing I hate in this world, it's big shiny metal boxes placed willy-nilly around my town. Call me a cynic, but I wondered just who "Planetaid" was?  A little googling and wouldn't you know it, they do not appear to be the charitable organization they profess to be. In fact they seem to have grown out of a Danish cult. It's so convoluted I can't do it justice in one blog. And that's the idea. These organizations have more branches than a stalk of broccoli.  Google PA's leader Ester Neltrup and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. Only in America can you put out a big box and have the locals stuff it with dollar bills, no questions asked. Most, if not all, the donated items are either shipped overseas and resold or shredded into rags, sold by the pound to India and remade into clothes by Walmart sweatshops. Helping the poor of the world? Only if you think employing workers to sew 16 hours a day for pennies, turning rags into riches is help. Maybe the Russian gulags housing the Pussy Riot girls have a supply deal with these guys.
   Do not. I repeat DO NOT put any of your unwanted belongings in the yellow bin. There's a little church in Youngsville that you can donate to or Goodwill and Salvation Army are both good bets. If even a fraction of what I have read about Planet aid is true, I would avoid them like the plague. In fact I think I can get one more winter out of those long johns. I'm still a little needy.