Donations to Goodwill are supposed to go to the needy in order to fund a good cause, but a video shot by a Miami man appears to show that the greedy are helping themselves to the bounty.
On Aug. 29, a man who wants to be identified as "Jay" was driving by the Goodwill donation drop-off point near his home in West Kendall when he saw several cars and a U-Haul truck backing up to the donation trailer.
He watched for a moment before pulling out his camera, not to record humanitarians dropping off donations, but to catch thieves picking through the unsecured items.
On the footage, one man is scene crawling from underneath the donation trailer, possibly looking for a way inside the locked canister. The U-Haul truck is packed with items including bed mattresses, lamps, desks and dressers, things people normally see at a Goodwill store.
"It appeared to me that the one woman scopes out the place and then they signal tot the U-Haul truck where to come," Jay said.
Once the group of men and women noticed they are being filmed, they immediately go on the offensive, hurling profanities and threats at the cameraman. They claimed they were dropping things off, but Jay claims never saw them take anything out of the truck.
And he says he has seen one of the women several times over the past two years taking donation bags from that same drop-off point.
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But the video only confirms what Goodwill officials said is a common occurrence these days.
"The video speaks for itself. It's organized and they know what comes and maybe they go over a few nights and they just gather the things and does who knows what with them," said Lourdes Little, spokeswoman for Goodwill of Miami .
Goodwill donations go to the stores, where they are sold and the proceeds go toward the organizations employment and training program.
Officials said the items could be collected and then sold at local flea markets or other outdoor vending venues. Goodwill advises that if people want to donate items, it's better to do it during the donation drop-off operating hours when staff members are there to catalog the donation and lock it in the trailer.
Otherwise, your donation might become a target of illegal Goodwill hunters.
