Opinion - community inquiry project and fundraising question from students at RSS

Our class is doing a community inquiry project and is interested in donating the money we fundraise. We had the idea of creating a gift cupboard. We got the idea from the city of Osoyoos who recently put one up. Essentially it's a small box cupboard located in a public place and has essentials such as diapers, deodorant, toothpaste but also items such as colouring books, mitts and touques or even books. The idea is to 'take something, trade something, leave something'. 

 

What we are wondering is:

-do you think rossland needs something like this? 

-if not, does anyone have any other ideas for how we could create a cupboard like this? (maybe a 'pay it forward box' or a gifts for single parents or children)

 

We would like the students see their giving in action, if anyone has any other ideas please let us know, we'd love the feedback

thanks!!

Please check this out!  We need some public feedback

I think that's a great idea! Do you know how it worked in Osoyoos though? Information from them and any other community would be good research to do beforehand. I.e. did they get junk left in the cupboard? Did more people take than trade or leave?

While the concept is fine, I feel that a gift cupboard in a public place in Rossland would just become a junky mess.

Just a thought:

What if you work with the food bank and set up a gift cupboard inside where the food bank is located. You could include a collection box inside Ferraro's next to their food donation box. The kids could volunteer their time at the food bank and those that use the food bank or others that stop by would benefit from the gift cupboard. Although it wouldn't be accessible 24/7, it would remain neat and tidy and target those that need it most.

The Food Bank volunteers absolutely need to be consulted before the above thought goes any further.  The Food Bank ladies are exceedingly thankful for the level of support Rosslanders provide to the Food Bank.  However, the Food Bank is in the business of providing food, not colouring books or clothing.

 

Absolutely Doris, I was just trying to think of a location where it wouldn't get trashed or become a big garbage pile.

I would also assume that any group that wants to put up a gift cupboard would be 100% responsible for always maintaining it year round no matter where it was located.

Here's some info from one in Calgary too. :-)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/yyc-little-free-pantry-1.3852489

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3856143?client=safari

 

Here is is a link about the one in Osoyoos. It was just put in so there's not much feedback about it yet. The thrift store and food bank already do a wonderful job in our community, this would be something separate. This would be an initiative that would be continued every school year so there wouldn't be an issue of it getting messy etc.

 

Bump