'Free store' in Saint John fully stocked thanks to community support

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 12:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

People lined up astir the artifact Saturday extracurricular Stone Church successful Saint John anterior to a "free store" event.

For the 2nd time, the Saint John Community Coalition invited radical to browse done tables of donated goods ranging from apparel and toys to furnishings and room appliances.

Turnout for the archetypal escaped store successful December exceeded expectations. It happened again Saturday.

"It highlights the request for much events similar this," said organizer Quinn Carvey. "We thought we had excessively overmuch stuff, and present it's like, 'Oh, possibly we don't person capable stuff.' This has acold exceeded our expectations for numbers."

The conjugation formed erstwhile respective smaller groups realized they had overlapping interests and decided to stock backing and resources.

The escaped store is simply a effect of that work. Carvey said the lawsuit aims to physique assemblage networks isolated from helping those successful need.

"It's 1 of the champion ways to support successful interaction with the radical who are your neighbours," she said.

Fellow organizer Sarah Durhal said Saturday's lawsuit was centred astir giving radical a consciousness of dignity. She said the conjugation doesn't mimic charities that necessitate radical to beryllium they're successful need.

The conjugation utilized donated ingredients to supply escaped crockery and breadstuff astatine the event.

"We would emotion to supply a abstraction wherever thing anybody needs oregon wants, they tin conscionable travel successful and get it for free," Durhal said.

"Part of the nutrient is to get radical to beryllium down and to mingle and to speech to 1 different and make a abstraction wherever the assemblage feels harmless and anyone tin come, careless of their income, their socioeconomic status."

Durhal said the "city showed up" aft a telephone went retired for donations. "We've got much than we could perchance truly person capableness for," she said.

Organizers are planning a escaped store this summer, apt astatine a larger venue.