A donation box branded with an image that is almost identical to the Habitat for Humanity logo sits in the parking lot adjacent to Burger King off Memorial Boulevard in Picayune. The box reads, “’Recygle’(sic) to better humanity,” on the front panel and lists a phone number to call for more information.
“These are not our boxes,” said Henry Winters, Director of Finance at Habitat for Humanity for the Bay and Waveland area.
A number of these fake boxes began to spring up throughout the Gulf Coast recently, and now there are several in Picayune.
Plain, green lettering along with spelling and grammatical errors make the boxes easy to identify, and while they don’t actually say “Habitat for Humanity” anywhere on the boxes, the similarity in the logo seems to suggest a possible attempt to mislead people who are planning to donate used items.
Calling the phone number listed on the box did not yield any results, but the 662 area code that precedes the number traces back to northern Mississippi.
When donating anything this holiday season, make sure to confirm the validity of anything that appears suspicious before giving items or money.