Food for Thought

The first course is served up by Deron Beal, the founder and executive director of The Freecycle Network™. It was written in May, 2005, and was posted on the ModSquad, the place where Freecycle moderators from all over the world gather together to discuss policy, ask for and give each other help, compare notes, and share a chuckle or two.

"As we pass our organization's second anniversary and approach 3000 groups with over 1.3 million members worldwide, maybe it's time for a State of the Organization. Time to get some good juju flowing and inspire folks as to our vision moving forward.

When we look at the Freecycle movement, we are talking about a worldwide gift economy. What does this mean? What could -- and should -- it look like in the future? How can we get from here to there?

We are talking about the smallest little thing: giving away something you'd likely otherwise throw away. Lives are not consumed with it, but it opens up a nice opportunity for each of us to give freely and to receive freely now and again.

And more than that -- we're also talking about the biggest thing: Changing the way people think about what they buy, when they buy it, and what they do with it when they no longer need it.

Small and huge at the same time.

The challenge that faces us as we move into our third year is equally small and huge. How can we best make that simple gift exchange possible? How can we best provide recycle/reuse education to local members everywhere? How can we eliminate annoying elements of moderation and open up more creative moderation tools locally? How can we empower each local group to make the maximum impact in their community?

So, goals:

  1. Provide worldwide coverage, in every language.
  2. Provide local groups/moderators with more community building tools and less grunt work.
  3. Increase educational component, municipal recyling information, local event planning and notification, calendar of events.
  4. Create a new Web site that will both get us off Yahoo Groups and:
    • Enable reception of posts by category.
    • Enable posts by radius/distance within each group. Post within a circle of where you live or receive posts only within 2 miles or twenty miles, etc.
    • Enable us to include many other "bells and whistles" for both members and moderators.

These are the challenges we are currently wrangling with, thanks to a lot of input from mods over the last year in particular ... into the comprehensive new Web site design. We are taking these options to several companies and organizations to see who can help us create this site with the limited funds at our disposal.

I'll be keeping you posted in the coming weeks and months as to how this new Web site design process moves forward. It is an exciting but stressful time. We can look forward to creating something that will take Freecycle up to the next level. So, hold on tight and keep your arms within the vehicle at all times!

We continue to grow at an astronomical rate, and we are beginning to spread in a large way abroad as well. We are already big in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and Germany. And there are Freecycle groups in over 50 countries.

This long list of small acts of kindness is giving shape to what is truly a giving revolution. Not a bad little movement, eh?

Let's all take a minute to pat ourselves on the back! ... Is this a crazy thing of beauty or what? We're keeping 55 tons out of the landfills today. Just imagine how high that number will be at this time next year.

Thanks for making this possible and stay tuned! ...
Deron