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by Nicolas Ruiz1 view·Updated Dec 14, 2021
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  1. New York City Free Stores is a collective
  2. organization with five stores located in House Kitchen,
  3. North Brooklyn Historia Clinton Hill in Harlem.
  4. One of the project's primary principles is based
  5. on giving something in taking something in return.
  6. There's an instagram page for each of the five locations,
  7. which serves to network with social media posts.
  8. Anything from books, clothes,
  9. small household goods and school and art supplies can be brought into trade.
  10. Most stores are open 24/7,
  11. so there is guaranteed access to essentials that someone might need at any time.
  12. Emptying the shelves is seen as a successful donation to the community.
  13. Each store is located to center those most impacted by oppressive structures.
  14. In fact, the North Brooklyn pop up, which is one of the more popular stores,
  15. is located right outside of public school 18 in East Williamsburg,
  16. giving kids the opportunity to take home books and food, among other useful things.
  17. So I actually took it upon myself to go to every location
  18. and donate something I no longer needed to each free store.
  19. I also took some pretty useful things as well.
  20. I tried to interact with other shoppers and gather information about
  21. the neighborhood and their opinions on the free store project.
  22. As you guys can see, these stores are usually pop ups on the sidewalk.
  23. There's bright words and artwork painted on every stores,
  24. walls and overall that this fear is very welcome.
  25. Some items that I've taken from these
  26. stores include this overcoat and cool green sweater
  27. and even a 50 piece box of single use masks.
  28. In turn,
  29. I have given away my extra cutlery, a stern water bottle,
  30. unused notebooks and an old poster.
  31. One thing that could use some improvement is free store in New York City's website.
  32. The front page displays an error message,
  33. and there is also a missing description section for the North Brooklyn Free Store
  34. I e mailed Channel Lewandowski,
  35. a co founder of the Free Stores Organization who I also interviewed for my midterm
  36. and suggested these improvements for the site.
  37. Yeah,
  38. I also drew to potential logos that could replace the error
  39. message on the front page of the site pictured here.
  40. In conclusion, the future of free stores seems to be headed in the right direction.
  41. To ensure the furtherance of this project,
  42. I have taken action by giving back to a group
  43. of communities and offered possible improvements to the website.
  44. I have also reached out about potential volunteering opportunities.
  45. Free store volunteers are taught to respect the space and are encouraged
  46. to leave the store more organized than it was when they arrived.
  47. If any of you guys are interested in volunteering, email.
  48. Channa dot Lewandowski at gmail dot com.
  49. All right, thank you guys. So much for watching.
  50. I hope you'll learn something and were inspired to give back to your community.
  51. Mhm.