Report: Costco Rejects $500 Donation for Children's Charity Because It Came from Gun Seller
One California retailer is crying foul after its donations to a Costco-supported charity were returned.
As Town Hall‘s Charlie Richards reported, Sacramento Black Rifle has a long history of giving to charitable organizations, including five years of donating to the Children’s Miracle Network via Costco’s annual fundraiser.
In return for the financial support, Costco locations where the donations were made displayed banners with the gun store’s name. This year, however, manager Nick Robertson said Costco representatives informed him that the Citrus Heights location would no longer permit Black Rifle’s banner.
Today we will be interviewed from the NRA – National Rifle Association of America own Dana Loesch about the Costco Costco and the Costco Reno situation regarding our donations being turned away and banners taken down.
— SacramentoBlackRifle (@SacBlackRifle) May 15, 2018
He claims he was first told an employee complained about the presence of a gun seller’s name on a banner in the store, though the company later cited a “customer complaint” as the impetus for its decision.
As a result, the $500 earmarked for charity was returned in the form of the check Black Rifle wrote to the Children’s Miracle Network accompanied by an explanatory letter.
“So they have taken a corporate stand!” Black Rifle wrote in a Facebook post last week. “To be clear this didn’t just happen to our CA store. They took our banner down at all store locations we had them hanging in.”
When another Costco heard of the controversy, representatives from that location paid Robertson a visit to tell him they would be glad to accept his donation.
Though the Roseville location initially indicated Costco did not have a corporate policy against hanging banners from gun stores, that store soon reached the same decision as the Citrus Heights location.
Again, the Black Rifle manager said he received a letter along with his check. The Roseville location cited “Costco Wholesale’s Regional Office direction” as the reason for the reversal.
https://www.facebook.com/gunpolicy/videos/1688876294537482/
At least one other Costco location followed suit. In Reno, Nevada, a retailer left Black Rifle’s banner hanging for about a month before also citing a complaint that led to the decision to remove it and issue a refund.
A manager at the Roseville Costco said he could not speak about the matter when reached for comment by Town Hall.
Sacramento Black Rifle reacted to what it considered partisan attacks by individuals suggesting it had fabricated the responses from Costco.
“It’s funny the liberals that are calling this letter fake,” the company wrote in a comment on its Facebook post.
The company took the opportunity to tie in a common argument among some conservatives, including President Donald Trump.
“It’s kinda like CNN reporting without gathering facts lol but using ‘unnamed sources,'” the business wrote.
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