Our Houston, Missouri Freecycle group has now been officially approved by the National Freecycle network on March 18, 2008 and is ready for use by area residents.
What is Freecycle?
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,296 groups with 4,702,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. Freecycle was launched in May 2003 by an environmentalist in Tucson. He wanted to encourage people to recycle instead of throwing things away when they didn’t want them anymore. Now it appears to be inspiring a grass-roots altruistic trend across the USA. Cars, clothing, toys, refrigerators, washing machines, food — just about anything that can be carried or moved has been offered and taken through Freecycle.
The National website www.freecycle.org states "Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community." Freecycle can educate the world at a local level about how critical recycling and reducing waste are. It empowers people on a grassroots and local level to take charge and make the world a better place, keeping countless tons of reusable items out of local landfills.
It is a cycle of giving. Everyone gives to everyone with absolutely no expectations of anything at all in return. Some of the testimonials by those who have used Freecycle around the globe are: “ I gave a loveseat to a lady who had nothing. Her husband had walked out on her and her children, and they were starting over from scratch. She was so thankful she cried - over a loveseat I would have probably thrown away. ” —Louisville, KY “ My Daughters' stolen bicycles were replaced in time for Christmas! ” — mom of five, Austin, Texas “ A truckload of diapers, clothes and supplies was collected through Freecycle for an orphanage in Haiti. FedEx donated the shipping! ” —San Jose, “ At a local Freecycle "Hurricane Help Project" event, hundreds of local community members helped victims of the latest hurricane with free furniture and building supplies. ” —Melbourne, FL
Our local Freecycle group is run by volunteers from www.ReliefShare.org a charity founded by local residents Carol and Richard Green, who also founded the national charity Newborns in Need. Following detailed instructions provided by the site, volunteer moderators oversee and monitor the postings in the Freecycle-HoustonMO@yahoogroups.com.
Logon at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Freecycle-HoustonMO> and join our local Freecycle group. Help your family and your neighbors to live more simply by de-cluttering and sharing your abundance, and also by seeing what free options are out there before you open your wallet and buy more stuff.
Hugs,
Carol
Founder
The address to send donations to is:
Relief Share
706 Hwy 17 N
Houston, MO 65483
...love in action - giving relief through sharing!