Darien Gets Answers On Donation Site

DARIEN, IL – Darien officials wanted to know what was going on with a donation site that raises money for a national veterans group.

On Tuesday, they got an answer.

American Veterans, or AmVets, has long maintained donation bins on the Walmart property at 2189 75th St.

"AmVets supposedly has been sold to a for-profit entity, so we're still trying to find out what that means to see if they are going to make any kind of contributions to AmVets," Alderman Eric Gustafson said at Monday's City Council meeting.

He said the logos for AmVets remain on the bins and truck. If a private company is in charge, people cannot deduct donations for income tax purposes, he said.

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, Dan Gombac, Darien's municipal services director, said a private firm, Simple Recycling, got back to him earlier in the day.

"Amvets is a corporate partner with Simple Recycling and still operating under Amvets," Gombac said. "Amvets and Walmart have an agreement in place granting them permission to operate as a donation center on their property. Amvets is under a Special Use Ordinance with the City that allows them to operate."

At Monday's meeting, Gombac said he had tried "exhaustively" to reach Walmart headquarters because the company owns the land where the donation site is. But he said he was unsuccessful.

"They have not violated any of the zoning," Gombac said.