Truckload of donations made by Minnesota family tossed at the dump
For months, Matt and Mary Cullum say they carefully decided what to donate, from furniture to gently used baby clothes. WCCO Investigates uncovered what happened and what you can do following a pick-up.
"So, these were things I was able to salvage at the dump," Mary said.
The Cullums collected items, big and small, to donate over a year.
"The one set I was able to locate from the dump because it was still in the plastic bag that we had organized everything in," Mary said.
Let's explain how we got here.
The Cullums felt strongly about making sure what they could no longer use went to another loving home.
"This stuff has been staying in our basement, cleaned and organized for a while. And I know that getting rid of it was like saying goodbye to that chapter in our life. But what gave me peace is knowing that some other kid would get to enjoy it," Mary said.
The family had a long list that filled a 20-foot moving truck.
"Dressers, the coffee table, the end tables, the nightstands, the two dressers, the dresser with the mirror, the oak bed cabinet, a bed, a bed frame, headboard, frame and headboard. Basically, that you could use to furnish like an apartment," Mary said.
Plus, toys and clothing, bikes and baby swings. They found a company that said they could do it all -- sort and donate the items -and hired the Shoreview franchise of College Hunks Hauling Junk.
"If you look at their website that they pride themselves in repurposing, recycling or giving things a second life before they take anything to the dump," Mary said.
The Cullums paid $1,500 for the pick-up. About an hour and a half later, Mary started to regret donating some sentimental items. By then, it was too late.
"And that's when he told me it was all gone. He said it's all at the dump," Matt said.
Mary raced there in hopes of salvaging something.
"It was just an overwhelming pile of stuff, of garbage, and I was trying to look for like larger items, and everything had just been bulldozed," Mary said.
Mary took a video walking through the debris at the dump site. Grabbing what she could save before she says it became too dangerous. And she watched the video of the donation being crushed.
"My mama heart was breaking because I wanted to get back the things. And I was just so disappointed that they treated good things like garbage, things that could have made a difference for another family, and things that we cherish, and we had put together so carefully, and our donation was treated like trash," Mary said.
"It was really hard for me, because it was my responsibility to find the right place. But it was really important to her that everything find a new home, and so I did my research, and I thought I found somebody I could trust to do that for us," Matt said.
They salvaged a few items, then contacted the company. And when the issue wasn't resolved, they turned to the Better Business Bureau. The company responded, saying they've done more training.
The Cullums contacted the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.
When they still didn't get the response they were looking for, they contacted WCCO to get answers.
College Hunks Shoreview owner Ryan Spille gave us a tour of their office and says there are two parts to the business -- moving and junk hauling. Donations fall under the latter.
"We do donation runs every week, week and a half," Spille said.
He says items are brought back here to be sorted. And truck captains are incentivized to donate versus dump.
"Their commission percentage goes up or down depending on their, what we call, disposal percentage. Disposal percentages are how much it costs you to dispose versus how much money you brought in. So, they have a strong incentive to donate stuff, because that's free, that will bring their disposable percentage down," Spille said.
So we questioned how the Cullum family's big donation could have ended up in the trash.
"If our guys are, like, actually dumping stuff that's in good condition. I mean, that, like, immediately horrifies me. I'm like, no, that can't happen. And so we sit that Captain down and say, 'Look, we have a responsibility to give those toys to donation or something like that.' I mean, that would be a very big deal," Spille said.
He says in this case, one of two things happened: the items weren't donatable or the captain made a mistake. Overall, the website says they donate or recycle 70%.
"What percentage of that is donatable? I don't actually know. But if I had to guess, I'd say it's probably like 15 to 20% of everything that we take in," Spille said.
The website touts partnerships with Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
"We have partnerships with, well, so with any donation center that's out there, we'll drop stuff off. We have partnerships with Habitat for Humanity is a big one we go to, obviously, Goodwill and Salvation Army," Spille said.
Goodwill told WCCO it "is not, and has never been, affiliated with College Hunks Hauling Junk.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore tells us they don't have a partnership.
"It's not like you have to have a partnership with somebody. Like, you wouldn't have to have a partnership, you know, to go donate or drop stuff," Spille said.
"I would just say I donated things," Mayerle responded.
"Exactly," Spille said.
"I wouldn't call it a partnership," Mayerle said.
"Well, yeah, I think, I mean, I guess in some ways they have, because they're opening up for donations," Spille said.
Spille says in addition to donations, they also allow employees to take what they need.
That's not advertised.
The Cullums asked for a donation receipt. The family never got one.
"If that's the case, that's a problem," Spille said.
For the couple, the outrage from the owner is too late.
"I think I was in shock for a while. I know I cried a lot because that's the last place I wanted it. And I was upset because this is something I felt was taken from the community. You know, if we hadn't tried to track down that box, I could have lived blissfully unaware," Mary said.
We want to emphasize that College Hunks is a franchise, and we are only reporting on the Shoreview location.
The Attorney General's Office sent two letters to College Hunks Shoreview asking for a response.
They've gone unanswered. We discovered the letters went to the wrong address.
So what can you do in a similar situation?
Ask the company to send pictures along with a list of what was accepted for donation.
Also, follow up with the company to get the donation receipt for your taxes.
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