Activists creating community "free stores" to help those in need, reduce waste in landfills
NEW YORK -- A community of activists is thinking of ways to help people in need, while also trying to reduce the waste that ends up in our landfills.
If you take a walk on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on most nights, you might see Vicki Rovere and her small black suitcase, picking through the trash. She calls herself an environmental scavenger. For 16 years, she has been sorting through household garbage in the hopes of finding things that can be useful to someone else.
"I don't do this to be kind, I do it because I am pissed off that all this stuff is going to waste," Rovere explained.
On the night CBS2's Hannah Kliger joined her on the streets of Bushwick, the pickings were slim, but the books she did rescue, she donated to Myles Smutney from The Free Store Project. The network of community sharing hubs was launched in October 2020.
"There was a mass exodus of people that were fleeing the city and leaving so many goods and usable things," Smutney said.
All of the free stores, which are clustered mostly in northern and central Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, are different. The one on Troutman Street in Bushwick was full of books, a blanket, clothing, mugs, and is operated by the bar next door. Smutney said the locations of the free stores often change as the neighborhoods change.
"The beautiful thing about this project is that it can be kind of rogue. It is best to have a community partner, it's best to work with NYCHA or a public school or a bar like this where we have dedicated volunteers," Smutney said.
While CBS2 was there filming, Benjamin Rodriguez, a Bushwick resident currently experiencing homelessness, stopped by. He said this resource has helped him on more than one occasion.
"I was in a shelter, they stole my clothes, so I came here to see If they got men's clothes," Rodriguez explained.
Free stores are not new. Rovere has been operating one on Ludlow Street in Manhattan for almost two decades, hoping New Yorkers will take notice and think twice before tossing away what someone else can see as treasure.
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