FreeCycle
September 21st, 2005
(the logo above is taken from freecycle.org, and links to that website)
I bet you have a lot of stuff at home that you bought at some point, given as a present or got a hold of it one way or another. And you just cannot be apart from just because you do not want it to go to waste, but you’d rather give it away to someone that needs it.
For the last year or so I discovered these FreeCycle Yahoo Groups which answers these questions. I love the very basic word play they did to find their name, too. These are groups all around the world that act locally for sharing your extras with the people in need of them. This all started in the beginning of May 2003, turns out. And they spread over 50 countries, thousands of local groups with over one million members!
Especially in US, which is know as a “consumer society”, this system works great, at least in the two local groups that I belong to.
It is not only good for giving away what you at hand, but asking for favors, too. Suppose you need something and either you cannot afford it or you simply do not want to spend money and using second hand sounds good to you. Then you send an email to the group and see if there is anyond that can give theirs to you.
Sometimes it is hard to believe what people want or are giving away; old clothing are just “so simple” to share but you can see emails flying around asking for air compressors, treadmills, pots and pans, flower bulbs etc. Whatever you can think, whatever you own in your houce, once day someone will ask for something similar or vice versa.
There are cases where some people are in need of a particular thing for a short time; that group can help, too. Some time ago someone asked to borrow a knife and server for a wedding. And she got it for that weekend.
If you are also interested in, you should go to their http://www.freecycle.org/website, and find a local group served by Yahoo. If they do not have it in your city, you can ask to start one your own.
Happy Freecycling!
September 22nd, 2005 at 1:04 am
Teşekkürler Fethiye bu güzel paylaşımın için.
September 22nd, 2005 at 1:19 am
Hey, ne güzel bir site. Sağol Fethiye.
September 22nd, 2005 at 6:04 am
Çok işime yarayabilirdi ancak İngilizcem çok yetersiz:(
ve ne yazık ki daha pek çok kişi için bu geçerli.
September 22nd, 2005 at 9:19 am
Tuhfe ve Basak, sizler de sagolun! Insallah bir sekilde birilerinin isine yarar.
Tulin nerede yasiyorsun? Eger uye olmak istersen senin yasadigin yerde grup var mi ona bakabilirim. Turkiye’de sadece Istanbul’da varmis ne yazik ki, onun da adresini yazima ekliyorum ama buradan da yazayim: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleistanbul/
September 22nd, 2005 at 11:59 am
Fethiyecim sagol ben herzaman diyorum senin bizlere verdigin fikirler her zaman sahane, Daha verdigin line girmedim bu yazidan sonra girip bakacagim, malum evde genc kiz var genc delikanli her zaman kiyafetler degisiyor elde biriken cok neden olmasin böyle bir guruba üye olmak. Aklinla bin yasa.
September 23rd, 2005 at 1:49 am
Fethiye link işime yaradı. Ben İstanbul’da yaşıyorum hemen üye oldum. Teşekkürler.
September 26th, 2005 at 12:53 am
Cok guzel bir fikir. Hele tuketim cilgini ve yardimlasmanin toplumsal olarak minimum olan insanlarin yasadigi Amerikada boyle bir olusumun olmasi. Tesekkurler paylastigin icin.
September 26th, 2005 at 7:06 pm
Fethiye, ne iyi yapip gundeme getirmissin bu konuyu, bende bu guruba uyeyim epey bir suredir, cok sey degis tokus yaptim bu gurup sayesinde, hele evde kucuk cocuk olunca, zipzipin cok esyasini bu gurupta arzu edenlere verdim, kendim icinde ne uygunsa istedim geldi, Turkiye’de de bunu hizlandirmali benimsetmeli bizim halkimiza, hadi turkiyedeki dostlar oncu olun bu is icin derim,
sevgilerimle,
September 26th, 2005 at 9:41 pm
Ozgulcugum, bulabildin mi senin sehirde bu gruptan? Sizin isinize yaramayan baskasina yarar cogunlukla.
Nevin, iste ben de buna cok sasirmistim ve bu kadar organize olmasi da cok hosuma gitmisti. Belki de bu ulkede cok iyi isleyen bir cark bu; ne de olsa alim gucu yuksek, insanlar aldikca aliyor ve sonradan ne yapacagini bilemiyor.
Zeynep abla, sen de mi uyesin?! Keske Turkiyede de daha yaygin olsa gercekten.
Biz gecen gun bir sey verirken biriyle tanistik, adam elektrikci cikti. Hem de endustriyel elektrikci. Simdi onunla is yapiyoruz!