Changing the world one gift at a time
The home school community we have in the Philippines has opened my eyes to a lot of wonderful things and one of them is freecycling. Haven't heard of it too? Well, freecycling is basically when a person passes on, for free, an unwanted item to another person who needs it. The whole idea behind it totally blew me away and upon further research on the subject, I found it amazing that there are already a lot of people around the world are choosing to freecycle rather than discard items. Such a practice not only saves (the recipients of the gifts) money but cuts down on the need to manufacture new things and of course frees up space in landfills. Thousands of individuals and groups dedicated to connecting people who want to give away something to people with a need are forming worldwide and one of them is the Philippine Homeschool Freecycle group that I joined on Facebook.
Now you're probably wondering how it actually works, right? First of, you have to find a freecycling group near you or consider forming one if there isn't any yet, either on your own or through organizations. Be the change you want to be as they say. Invite like minded people into the group and build from there. Freecycling works best when the group members live in the same area or country at least because it's more convenient and uses less energy when stuff is exchanged or given. Each freecycle group will have its own set of rules, which every member has to learn and follow. But commonly there are four kinds of posts: Wanted is for searching for an item; Found is letting others know that you now have the item you were searching for; Offer is informing your group of the items you will be giving away; Taken is to tell the others that you found the person who needed the item/s you offered.
In our own freecycle group in Facebook we have the Wish List & Gratitude thread and Offer posts. Our group is centered around the home school community so the items posted there are mostly books, educational tools and school supplies. There is strictly no buying, selling or swapping in the group, we have a separate home school group page for that. I've only been a member for a couple of weeks now but I already saw an offer post of a set of pre-loved books that I just knew Miss Artsy would love. I commented on the post and suddenly got a message from my fellow home school parent offering it asking for my shipping details so that she can send me the books right away. I gave her my thanks and the details she needed for the give away to proceed.
The saying that there's nothing for free in the true sense anymore has just been utterly defeated by the freecycle movement. It is true that no matter how cruel the world gets, there are still those who choose the light.
By the way, Miss Artsy loves both of the books (Jonah and the Big Fish and Phineas L. MacGuire Gets Cooking Part 1) we got from the PH Homeschool Freecycle group, and she can't believe that we got both without having to pay for them. Now we're both on a mission to collect all of the home school related stuff lying around the house that we don't need anymore so we can give them away as well.
Before throwing something away, check to see if someone else needs it first. Before buying something, check to see if anyone is looking to get rid of the item you need. It's a win win situation if you ask me. Isn't the FREECYCLE MOVEMENT just amazing? Why not join a group or start your own today?
