This is part two of a four-part investigative series by CTV W5 into the seedy underbelly of the lucrative clothing donation bin industry. W5 correspondent Jon Woodward and producer Joseph Loiero, using trackers, reveal a for-profit operation masquerading as a charity.
When Nazarene Sebastian spotted a brown stuffed elephant in a Toronto-area thrift store, she thought it would be the perfect Christmas present to donate to needy children.
What she didn’t know was that the stuffed elephant had already been donated, as part of a W5 investigation that tracked what happened to the items people place in clothing donation bins.
When a W5 crew knocked on her door in Brampton, Ont., she found out the money she spent on that elephant may have been a source of revenue for a collection of organizations that seem to be profiting off people’s donations.
And that those organizations have previously faced allegations of …