What? Our local Freebox in Ashland, OR

In the same lot as our thriving local recycle center is to be found our freebox. It is a small wooden building with one open side housing a long rack which is crowded with used clothing on hangers. Underneath it is a shelf with piles of shoes and boots for everyone you know from the man of the house, the teens needing those famous Nike's and even a bunch of baby shoes and sandals. In front is also a long shelf with boxes stuffed with clothing and below it, more boxes and more clothing. On the front is a sign: Please, no torn, wet or dirty clothing.

There are people in our neighborhood whose entire wardrobe is to be found at the freebox. Ashland is a relatively upscale town in southern Oregon so even famous labels may be found crowded into the boxes: Lands' End, Eddie Bauer, Ralph Laren, Ann Klein. It's good pickin' there: the farming hippies come from Williams to comb for t-shirts, skirts and pants, hoodies and later in the season, wool sweaters. Our Mexican mothers take dresses with them and small pants and shirts for their babies toted on their backs in slings. The teens, both girls and men, assemble colorful outfits to take off into their lives. Older women, and a few men as well, search through the sweaters to be found there wool, cotton and acrylic to keep their bones warmed even in summer.

I have a woman friend who prefers what might be called an eclectic wardrobe. She finds a pair of orange spandex tights which she fringes on the bottom, a slippery polyester knit printed top in shades of green and turquoise with yellow which straps are removed to be worn upside down on her hips with a pink belt also pulled from the depths of the pile. Her top is a blue cotton knit tank and on her head is a green cap slung over one ear with the peak floating at a rakish angle across her face. She has a large storage unit with masses of stuff: her own kind of freebox! Once she gave me an all wool Ralph Laren hand knit sweater great for the in-between season, in-between winter freezes and spring warming, in-between summer's ending heat and the stormy blasts of October. Stylish for free. I'm thankful.

I check out the box whenever I go past. It's closed on Tuesdays. I find sweaters that may be unravelled and used again to make other sweaters or jackets, shawls or potholders. There are occasionally flannel sheets which I wash, rip into strips and then, with a giant crochet hook, turn into floor mats easy to use and easy to launder. Lately I found a long, primo cotton hoodie and for winter, a puffy warm down jacket coming past my thighs. Cozy!

The Freebox is also a little of a social center: a great place to meet our neighbors: beautiful young mothers with gurgling babies and toddlers trailing behind, working people whose budgets go only as far as the gas station and the local discount grocery store, college students in search of useful clothing or costumes for special events, even a theatre manager seeking wardrobe for a production he was planning.,

Everything is there: coats, jackets, slickers, tops, blouses, shirts both long and short sleeved, skirts, jeans, Dockers pants, tights, shoes and boots, sandals, hoodies, leather and polyester, cotton, wool and linen.

Is there somewhere in your town where a freebox could be made available to everyone? Is there a place, a small garage, an empty store front, a volunteer or several who could spend a little time keeping such a place tidy? Let me tell you, you might be surprised about several things: one, everyone has something to give from time to time and two, many people in your community will be very grateful for the boost such an option for clothing can give their budgets season by season.

When we look around, there are a hundred hundred things we may do to support and assist each other. It's an old new idea. Check it out!