Yesterday, on a trip to Winn Dixie in LSL, there were 4 young men soliciting donations for the USS Olympia at the 2 entrances. Every customer was asked to donate to this cause. Many did....
As I sat there waiting for my wife, I decided to look at the the website on their banner: WWW dot USSOLYMPIA dot ORG That web address takes you to a Japanese website...first red flag.
Then I decided to call the phone number on the banner, 888-895-2200 This number is answered by a nice recording of a lady with a British accent...2nd red flag
I then did a little more research on the Perseveration Society for the USS Olympia. According to their website, the society is NO LONGER receiving donations for the USS Olympia...3rd red flag.
I'm not saying this was a scam, they may be perfectly legit, but it just didn't pass my smell test or coincide with the research I conducted.
Finally, I did call the manager of Winn Dixie and informed him of my research. He informed me that they had provided all the required paperwork to be there, but after what I told him, he said he would go through it again. I drive by 2 hours later and they were still out front asking for donations.
Not trying to inhibit folks from giving to worthy causes...just be sure you're giving to real causes.
PS: When I put the website into TOTV, in a normal
Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News - CNN.com format, it produced garbage.