A makeshift “jail” at a Providence Walmart store intended as a children’s hospital fundraiser has been removed after a photograph on social media showed a Black employee inside the cage, the company said Friday.
“As part of our annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) fundraiser, we encourage store associates to creatively engage with one another and customers to raise money,” Walmart said in a statement. “The ‘jail’ fundraiser goes against company policy and should never be used. We are reinforcing this with our stores in the area, and this display has been removed from our Providence location.”
Walmart said it looked forward to “continuing our fundraising efforts for CMNH and to working closely with Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island.”
Angela B. Ankoma, vice president and executive director of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Equity Leadership Initiative, on Wednesday tweeted a photo of the display, which appeared to show a Black employee at the Silver Spring Street location sitting inside the cage with his head down. She tweeted that the photo of the display had been shared with her.
The cage was decorated with signs, including one that said, “I’m in Jail!!! I need Bail!!! Help me raise $50 to get out!! All donations going to Hasbro Children’s Miracle Network!!” A metal container was placed in front of the cage to collect donations.
Ankoma wrote above the photo, “This ‘fundraising’ campaign was shared with me this evening. I’m perplexed. This is WILD.”
Ankoma didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Angela Boateng, the woman who took the photo, told the Providence Journal that she was stunned when she first observed the display.
“As I was exiting that Walmart on Silver Spring, I noticed this cage, and I felt like I saw somebody and I went closer ... and I’m like, is there a young male in the cage? I just did not understand what was happening, but I was mortified,” Boateng told the Journal. “And as I went closer to read what was on the cage, I don’t know really what came over me. I was just deeply offended.”
Telephone numbers listed for Boateng weren’t in service.
Hasbro Children’s Hospital parent Lifespan didn’t immediately respond to a Globe request for comment.
Lifespan spokesperson Sarah Lyons told the Providence Journal that the health system hadn’t known about the fundraiser at the Providence store.
“As a partner of the Children’s Miracle Network, Walmart has been a great supporter and partner of Hasbro Children’s Hospital and we are very appreciative,” Lyons told the Journal. “We were not aware of this particular fundraiser held as part of the Children’s Miracle Network campaign and have spoken with both the Children’s Miracle Network and the local store about fundraising alternatives moving forward.”
The Children’s Miracle Network, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has raised billions for children’s hospitals like Hasbro over the last four decades, according to its website.
“To provide the best care for kids, children’s hospitals rely on donations and community support, as Medicaid and insurance programs do not fully cover the cost of care,” the site says. “Since 1983, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has helped fill those funding gaps by raising more than $7 billion, most of it $1 at a time through Miracle Balloon icon campaigns. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit’s mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible.”
Attempts to reach the Providence Walmart for comment were unsuccessful; a pharmacy employee transferred a reporter to the store manager’s office, where the phone rang continuously without a voicemail prompt. The same thing happened when the reporter tried to reach a separate “store operator” by following the automated keypad instructions.
Mayor Brett Smiley’s spokesperson didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
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