When times are hard, we often have difficult decisions to make. Replace that broken table, or eat hot meals for the week. While it may sound a little melodramatic, that is the kind of decision more and more of us are having to make.
In an effort to offer a little choice for those of us without much money, so-called “Free Stores” have been cropping up around the country. With a nod back to the 60s where this kind of thing happened a lot, these free stores allow families to donate household objects or their time in return for something they need. No money changes hands and everything is fair.
There are rules of course, in most stores, consumers have to either bring in items, or volunteer their time to work in the store. In turn, they are permitted to take up to three items. This way it isn’t charity and people feel they are contributing to the welfare of the neighbors.
The Free Store in Racine, Wisconsin is an example of how everything works. It was started by the Tech Corps, a non-profit organization that repairs computers and provides them to schools. They opened their free store in October and have seen demand for it increase exponentially.
The store is open only on Saturdays, but Tech Corps Wisconsin founder, Michael Pitsch and store coordinator, Alison Conner hope to expand the operation as much as they can.
The Free Store, Pitsch says, is a way to provide direct assistance to those who need it. “At the core of the American people is this feeling that we are in this together, and we need to help each other,” he says. Racine, population 78,860, has an unemployment rate of 8.6%.
This store is a reflection of what is happening across the country. Neighborhoods and communities are pulling together like never before. Not since the end of World War Two have we seen disparate groups working together for a common goal. While the financial hardships aren’t to be wished on anyone, the effect it’s having on our communities is a positive one.
The free store idea is similar to those egalitarian ventures in San Francisco from the 1960s where volunteers would offer their goods and services for free, for the benefit of their community. They also offered free medical care, with time donated by local physicians and healthcare professionals.
With an increased frustration at not having money, a sluggish economy and a slow move away from consumerism, the free store is a result of communities pulling together to make it through. These moves, and those like Occupy Wall Street are a reflection of our increasing dislike for greed.
The free store, and others like it are a move to make an alternative economy where fairness and community spirit is the currency. The barter economy also seems to be making a comeback, where people with skills donate them in return for favors from others with skills they need.
While the cause of this alternate economy is an unpleasant one, the results are ones that can benefit all of us.
NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is certainly not the first sports star to have a candy in his honor. Joining the esteemed ranks of Muhammad Ali and The San Diego Chicken, (we get the feeling that Bo Jackson must have had a candy bar somewhere along the line, but then again, he might have just known a candy bar) Earnhardt, Jr.’s bar may not be eponymous, but can certainly boast the gayest name ever. NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s candy bar’s name: Big Mo’. That’s right. Big Mo’.
