Donations For Fire Victims Found At Dump
August 10, 2011 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.
CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 10 (UPI) — The owner of a garbage collection company in Calgary, Alberta, says he found boxes of donations meant for Slave Lake wildfire victims in the city dump.
Paul Nielson said he discovered boxes of new clothes, toys and other items at the Spyhill Landfill in Calgary Monday, CTV reported.
“I opened the box and it was like a knife through my heart. I’ve seen lots of horror and this just shattered me,” the broadcaster quoted Nielson as saying. “The box was full of children’s clothing. Someone had gone to a store, bought children’s clothing, and had the foresight to throw something in for the mother too.”
Most of the boxes were labeled “Donations for Slave Lake, from Total E&P Canada Ltd.” and were addressed to the Red Cross, the Calgary Sun reported.
However, the Red Cross does not accept donations of goods, just cash.
“The cost of storing goods like that is too prohibitive,” said Tracie Moore, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
“That’s very disheartening — it was very important for our employees. They wanted to reach out to the victims of Slave Lake,” said Saphina Benimadhu, a spokeswoman for Total E&P Canada.
Benimadhu said goods collected by the company were sent to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross, and it was assumed they had reached the fire victims in Slave Lake.
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