Freecycle: ‘The gift is in the giving’ for the planet and the soul

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More than 1,700 men and women in the Williamsport area are part of a global Internet sensation preventing a landfill's worth of goods from becoming trash.

Rosalyn Price English of Piatt Township is one of those people using www.Freecycle.org's local network to find new homes for "free, legal and appropriate for all ages" merchandise. Members post messages offering or looking for any type of item in a geographic area.

Originally from the Providence, R.I. area, Price English explained why she Freecycles with "an old New England axiom: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Most recently, Price English found a new home for more than 2,000 books and hundreds of yards of fabric.

"Environmentally, it's an amazing deal, but it's also an amazing deal for people who are looking for something," she said.

Price English and her husband Thomas are making room for a new baby. She is seven and a half months pregnant. "The fabric and books were in the closets, the basement ... We really try to simplify things down and having the baby and all the stuff we get at the shower, we hardly have room for anything as it is," she said.

In the future, she said she would like to host Freecycle swap meets.

"I think it helps us to not be pack rats. It's too easy to hold on to something simply because you might use it someday," Price English said.

Items posted on Freecycle are claimed "just like that," Price English said, with a snap of her fingers. "I think it's a great service to the community."

Born from a grass-roots movement in Tucson, Ariz., Freecycle is "keeping good stuff out of landfills," according to creator and executive director Deron Beal.

More than five million people around the world use the free site.

"The main rule is keep it free, legal and appropriate for all ages," Beal said.

Local group moderator Ruth Smith has seen "everything from jacuzzi tubs to magazines" up for grabs on the site. "There is never an offer too small. Another man's junk is someone else's treasure, right? Likewise, I have seen some requests that amaze me, but someone always seems to come through for that person."

Scrap wood, yard sale leftovers, bed frames, clothing, sewing machines and workout equipment are just a few of the items up for grab on the Williamsport site this week. Some items are new and gently used while some are available for parts and scrap.

The Web site is based on generosity, Beal said.

"The first time someone comes to your front door and picks up an item you were going to throw out and they thank you profusely, you get the super-good warm fuzzies," Beal said. "The gift is in the giving."

Smith agreed gifting is a large part of Freecycle: "It's a wonderful feeling to read a post from someone in need and say, 'Wow, I can help this person and really make a difference for them.' Giving is the best feeling in the world."

The Web site is changing the world by giving items a second life.

"We've got one less landfill in the world as a result," Beal said. "I think it's empowering people to change the world themselves. It's not some external nonprofit. We're putting a tool out there for people to change the world. It's amazing how people are taking hold of that tool and making that happen."

For Smith, the Web site is important to both the community and the environment.

"Our community benefits by unwanted items not being cast out into the streets," she said. "Also, we get a greater sense of community by meeting those people who we share our items with."

Freecycle has been used by an American Indian tribe in South Dakota to collect prom dresses for girls who could not afford to buy them and a woman in Texas collected children's items to donate to an orphanage in Haiti.

"The sky's the limit when you empower people to change the world themselves," Beal said.

In Williamsport, there's a special place for Freecycle, Smith said.

"I believe that our great city can only become more wonderful through the Freecycle Network experience," she said. "We would love it if more nonprofit groups in our city would partake of the things the Freecycle Network has to offer, as well as bringing with them opportunities of their own to share."

The Internet phenomenon began in May 2003 when Beal sent an e-mail to 30 friends and a handful of nonprofits.

"I was offering a bed," he said. "My wife and I were getting married and we had this bed. Goodwill doesn't take beds, (but) it seemed a shame to throw it out."

From there, the first local Freecycle group in Tucson grew to about 800 members.

"I thought it was way too large to possibly function," Beal admitted.

The network has grown into 4,523 groups in 85 countries with 5,342,000 members.

New members are encouraged to post an offered item first, Smith said.

"They get the idea that is is very fulfilling to give as well as receive," she said. There is the misconception that Freecycle is "a place to have people haul your trash away. This is definitely not what we are here for, in most cases. Sometimes people post looking for scrap or other 'garbage items.' "

Freecyclers should be truthful when describing available items, Smith said.

"Since our group started in 2005 we have reached 1,718 members, most of whom are still receiving group e-mails and participating," Smith said of the local Freecycle. "In June 2005, our message count was 40. This June, so far, there have been 390 message posted to the group. We love the fact that we are growing and that the Freecycle Network is catching on so rapidly."