At the request of Harriet Pecot of Food for People, LoCO wants to warn the community that  “someone is calling people in the Eureka area pretending to be the local food bank and asking for donations.  It is an automated message asking people to call 701-248-1430 with their donations.”

She explained that Food for People is the only official food bank of Humboldt County.  She stated,

We do NOT use automated messages—in fact, we do not solicit by phone.  We are local and raise funds and food through our relationships with our community.  It is challenging enough to do what we do and to have someone (or something) scamming our community in our name is more than insulting.

According to their website, Food for People accepts donations to “help us feed an increasing number of people in need throughout Humboldt County.” Last year, their site claims they “donated 90,882 lbs of food through community food drives and the involvement of many organizations, schools, businesses and individuals.”

LoCO attempted to contact the alleged fraud number above but was only given an automated message.

Pecot says that she has reported the situation to the Eureka Police Department.  At the time of the posting, LoCO was unable to contact someone with the EPD who was able to speak to the situation but we will update if we get more information.