Charity refutes rumors over donated quake-relief jackets

The Shanghai Charity Foundation on Tuesday denied that the down jackets of a well-known Canadian brand donated to victims of the recent earthquake in Gansu province through the foundation were being sold online.

Earlier that day, an online post alleged that the Canada Goose down jackets donated by Xiji (Shanghai) Trading Co, a Canada Goose-affiliated company in China, were found on sale on Xianyu, a popular online secondhand marketplace. The post immediately caused a stir among netizens who flooded the comments questioning the integrity of how the donations had been handled.

"The untrue information has already had a bad effect on the quake-relief efforts," read the open statement released by the foundation on Tuesday.

The foundation said that it received 2,001 Canada Goose down jackets after getting a phone call from a representative of Xiji (Shanghai) Trading Co on Dec 20.The jackets were regarded as urgently-needed materials for victims in Gansu who were experiencing subzero cold weather after the earthquake.

On Sunday, the foundation worked with China Post to send the jackets to quake-devastated areas, aided and supervised by the Shanghai Z-CARE Emergency Rescue Team, which is conducting search and rescue operations in the region. The rescue team was requested to follow up and oversee the delivery of jackets to the victims.

By 6:20 pm the next day, the local authority confirmed that they had received the jackets and had stored them temporarily in Xuhujia town in Jishishan county. The distribution plan had yet to be decided by the provincial civil affairs department.

"We are continuously following the whole process of distribution to ensure the transparency of donation handling," read the statement.

The foundation emphasized that other donations were properly received and will be distributed as planned. Close cooperation will continue between the foundation, Gansu officials and rescue teams on-site to ensure a smooth and just donation process.

An official with the local publicity department surnamed Guo confirmed to Jingzhou Daily in a video report that the jackets are still in stock and have not been distributed.

Xianyu has deleted the post alleging "down jacket donations on sale", and permanently removed the account involved for "maliciously driving traffic to attract customers".

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake that jolted an ethnic county in Northwest China's Gansu province on Dec 18 killed 117 people in the province, according to Xinhua News Agency. A further 31 were killed by the quake in neighboring Qinghai province.