ROCKDALE, Texas (KRHD) — A pink donation box in Rockdale has been removed after a Facebook post showed items overflowing, causing mixed reactions among residents.
- Some residents found the box helpful for people experiencing homelessness and low-income families.
- Others complained that it became an eyesore and was being used as a dumping ground for unwanted items.
- The American Breast Cancer Foundation owns the boxes and says property owners can have them removed, but the owner of the shopping center says he wasn't aware of them being there.
- Residents are encouraged to donate to local organizations like Heavenly Treasures instead.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Chelsea Beidler didn’t expect her post on Facebook to go viral.
“My initial post was just two pictures of those, and I had said, 'Does anyone know who owns this property?'," she said.
The pictures showed items overflowing a pink donation box outside a local shopping center.
"There was broken furniture, leftover wood and stuff from remodeling projects," she said.
But now, they’re gone.
"I think that the problem is that everyone's using it as a dumping spot," Beidler said.
— and the community is split on the decision and who to blame.
"I think it's nice to not have it look so dirty when you first pull into Rockdale," she said.
Some neighbors say it helps those who are homeless and low-income.
“I know some people, that's the only way that they can get clothes," Dalton Hammond, another resident, said.
Like Dalton Hammond who’s found clothes in the piles.
"Whenever the summertime came, I didn't have any, I didn't have any pants to wear realistically to like work in, and I had gotten my pants from there," he said.
I called the American Breast Cancer Foundation who owns the boxes.
They say they’ll remove them if the property owner wants them gone.
But the owner says they weren’t aware of it being there.
"I would like to know who's responsible for taking them away," Beidler said.
But Chelsea and Dalton agree each perspective is valid, and there’s blame on both sides.
"It's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of just the people going through it, and it's also the people like as they bring it, they're scattering it out,“ Hammond said.
"It was left out in all the weather and the elements, and I just think if you really want to help the homeless and you want to help people in need, that's not the solution is to leave a pile of trash," Beidler said.
