The Long Beach Free Store is doing something very unique and worth talking about – they’re giving everything away! They are suggesting bringing something unwanted in and exchanging it for something wanted, but it is not required – anyone off the street can come in and take up to two items in exchange for their name and email address.
Would this idea work in your (my?) context?
What obstacles besides, location, staff, items would need to be considered?
This is interesting. They kind of make “free” hip. There is a culture of virtue there and pride in participating in a “free economy”. Not sure how that would go in PA. If you could get Christians to really buy into the idea to get it up and running it could work. But there would still be concern about people abusing the system. And others want to avoid the stigma of getting something for free. It would be worth a try though!
I think they have a few things going for them –
#1 – they’re in Long Beach, CA
#2 – they already have the location to do something like this (no rent)
#3 – they’re doing this as an outreach from a larger organization (something called Catalyst)
#4 – as far as I can tell they’re not affiliated with any Christian organization