Buy Nothing FaceBook

There are times when I lose my faith in humanity and then something happens that restores it. Lately, most of my grace-filled moments come from my experience with “Buy Nothing FaceBook.” My husband and I are cleaning out our house. We have so much stuff that we no longer need but is still in good condition. Our kids don’t need or want what we are trying to give away. Since we try to be conscious of the planet and not just throw usable items away, I was stumped. Of course, I know about GoodWill but I’m not sure what they throw away. Then someone told me about “Buy Nothing Facebook”

There are multiple pages of Buy Nothing Facebook. I belong to the West Webster page. You have to join the page that is local to you. This way when you put your items up on the page to give away, the person that wants them is a short drive away. Your items have to be free. There is no selling on this page. It works like this. You post your item. “Give, a crib with attached changing table in good condition. Used for babies staying or napping at Grandma’s house.” People who are interested post a comment “Interested”. The person giving away the item sends a Facebook direct message (DM) to whoever they pick to receive the item.

You can also ask for things on the page. We wanted to paint some fences in our church gardens. We asked for paint and people were happy to give us half-filled cans of paint from their basement!

I have met the nicest people who live just a few miles away by posting on the page. We had thirty-year-old outdoor furniture that a couple took to refinish. They live a mile from our house and we knew people in common but had never met them.

There was a family who live close by who took some furniture for a refugee family.

There was the woman who took my old rocking chair. She was young and moving into her first apartment. She told me she was going to paint it white and put plants on it.

And there was the woman who was struggling with a baby born with a cleft palate. She had nothing. A woman in my Facebook group was collecting baby furniture for her. She got our crib with the attached changing table.

This has been a wonderful way to meet people who live fairly close by and find out how they are helping others. Who knew getting rid of stuff could provide such grace-filled moments of connection?