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Good Things Come to Those Who Give
by Kimberly Danger
 At Freecycle, an Internet-based recycling organization, what goes around comes around. Members give away their unwanted possessions and often receive great things in return. All sorts of excess is passed along, from supermarket coupons to—literally—the kitchen sink.
Founded in 2003, The Freecycle Network (freecycle.org) was created by Deron Beal of Tucson, Ariz. At the time, Beal noticed how items that could be used by the non-profit organization he worked for routinely ended up in the trash. In an effort to squeeze extra life out of things people would normally discard, Beal organized a system for goods to be given away. Freecycle now boasts more than 4,000 local networks with four million members worldwide.
 Each Freecycle group operates at a community level under the leadership of a volunteer moderator. Because moderators have the freedom to operate as they see fit, no two groups are exactly alike. The only across-the-board rules are that items must be legal, appropriate for the general public and, like the non-profit network itself, absolutely free.
To read more about Freecycle, see the complete article in our March/April issue, on newsstands now.
Kimberly Danger
Kimberly Danger is publisher of Mommysavers.com, and author of 1000 Best Baby Bargains. She lives in Southern Minnesota with her husband and two children.
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