Freecycle rocks

[PamNY]

I've had to force myself to face reality that I'm never going to use a lot of the fabric, buttons, elastic and such that I've accumulated over the years. Those of you who grew up with depression-era parents will understand.

I put the fabric on Freecycle and it was requested by a teacher who runs a fashion design program at a high school. I was so pleased that it's going to a good and useful purpose that I was inspired to sort through the buttons and elastic as well.

And if anyone doubts the dedication of teachers, she's got a broken collarbone and is traveling quite a long way on the subway to pick this stuff up. Makes me wish I had more for her.

I've had such good luck with Freecycle -- I nearly always get nice thank-you notes.

[shootingstar]

That's great, Pam to make that type of donation. You seem to have more discipline that I.

I faced a similar dilemma when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver.
I did manage to sort and drop off some bags of brand new fabric and rolls of new lace (not sure what I was thinking at the time of purchase!) to a non-profit women's support services group in Toronto, Sistering.

I already had invited family and friends during my goodbye party before moving to comb through and select fabric that they liked. Each person walked off happily with at least 1 type of fabric length.

But I kept a large plastic storage bin of fabric I couldn't part with. Now...I still haven't used the big pieces yet. Only smaller pieces and ends for oil/acrylic painting rags for cleaning brushes.

But I am grateful I kept whatever spools of thread I had. It's been handy for alterations and garment repairs since I've kept /still use sewing machine occasionally. It is HARD now to find enough stores with spools of quality thread, thread that doesn't break.

[Tri Girl]

I LOVE freecycle!!
I'm glad the teacher will put it to good use! I am a teacher, too, so I often have tons of stuff around the house for projects- and have used Freecycle to accumulate things when needs have arisen.
Thanks for donating that. We always need far more for our classes than we have. Very cool of you!!

[Bike Chick]

I've never heard of Freecycle. Where do I get more info?

[Bike Chick]

Never mind. I just did a search and found a chapter in my county.

[Tuckervill]

I used to use Freecycle a lot. I gave away a trampoline because it had been crushed by a tree limb. The person had asked for parts--and it turns out they lived RIGHT around the corner! She took the two tramps and put them together to make one. I see her kids jumping on it about once a week.

But, I left FC right after that, because I was sick of all the requests from the "disabled" (their words) for "flat screen tvs" (also their words) and the like. I don't want to appear as if I have no compassion for others, but it was just too much for all the stories to be real. I mean, if I have something to give away, I don't care who gets it. I give it to the first responder--I don't need a sob story to sway me your way. It's not a competition!

My happiest give away was the junior drum set that I gave to a 7 year old, that my son had baked cookies to sell to buy, when he was just 7. That boy was SO happy.

Karen