{"id":745438,"date":"2026-04-22T13:32:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/745438\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:32:36","slug":"how-one-l-a-buy-nothing-group-offers-more-than-new-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/745438\/","title":{"rendered":"How one L.A. Buy Nothing group offers more than new beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In my L.A. Buy Nothing group, I started noticing how some objects, given for free from neighbor to neighbor, carry emotional weight. An item was more than it appeared. It was a piece of personal history, perhaps one with generational memories.<\/p>\n

From one person\u2019s hands to another\u2019s, objects find new life through the free gift economy on Facebook or the Buy Nothing app. Buy Nothing Project<\/a>, a public benefit corporation, reports having 14 million members across more than 50 countries who give away 2.6 million items a month. There are more than 100 groups in Los Angeles alone.<\/p>\n

Buy Nothing reduces waste by keeping items out of landfills. It also builds community. When our lives are increasingly online, Buy Nothing encourages us to get out of our cars and make connections with neighbors, even if the interaction is no more than a wave when picking something up left by a doorstep. Researchers have found<\/a> that even small social interactions can foster a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n

Still, Buy Nothing has its challenges. For years, some have complained that the groups shouldn\u2019t be limited to neighborhoods, but rather have more open borders. Last year, many longtime members complained about the project enforcing its trademark, leading Facebook to shut down unregistered groups even if they were serving people under economic strain. Critics saw the tattling as a shift from mutual aid toward control and branding. For its part, Buy Nothing says<\/a> its decisions are based on building community, trust and safety.<\/p>\n

Despite those disagreements, Buy Nothing offers a platform for special connections. As much as there are jokes about people offering half-eaten cake, many have passed along treasured items. Buy Nothing items may feel too valuable for the trash or too personal for Goodwill. The interaction between giver and receiver becomes just as meaningful as the object itself.<\/p>\n

I set out to document these quiet exchanges in my Buy Nothing group, drawn to the question of why people choose to pass their belongings from one neighbor to another.<\/p>\n

Tiny builders, big exchange<\/p>\n

Lidia Butcher gives a toolbox and worktable her two sons used to Chelsea Ward for her 17-month-old son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the toolbox and worktable for the last 10 years, it\u2019s been very special. When I told my youngest son we were going to give it away, he was a little sad. He said he was still playing with it, but then I explained that it\u2019s been sitting untouched for a year and that if we gave it to someone else, maybe someone else would be happy about it. So he felt joy about giving it to another child who would want to play with it. I have this little emotional feeling letting it go, but at the same time, it\u2019s a good feeling. Like a new beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lidia Butcher, 35, joined the group several years ago when someone told her a person in the group once asked for a cup of sugar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting a worktable. Benji is now old enough to be interested in playing with tools. I\u2019m going to move my drafting table out of his room. His bedroom is my office. So that will go into storage or the Buy Nothing group and the worktable will go in its place. We live in an apartment, and as he\u2019s growing, his needs change but our space doesn\u2019t. Buy Nothing is really helpful to be able to cycle out of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chelsea Ward, 38, has found the Buy Nothing group extremely helpful since becoming a mom.<\/p>\n

Something borrowed<\/p>\n

Abby Rodriguez lends Sophie Janinet a veil for her wedding.<\/p>\n

\u201cSophie had asked for a wedding veil on our Buy Nothing group and I\u2019m lending it to her because I wanted it to have a second life. I hate the idea that precious things just sit there and never get touched. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life. At one point the power went out and now we have this amazing picture with my husband and I and everyone using their phone to light up the dance floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Abby Rodriguez, 40, discovered Buy Nothing when she moved to her northeast L.A. neighborhood in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved to Los Angeles from France four years ago. The day I joined Buy Nothing was the first time I felt connected to the community. It played a huge role in my adapting to life here. I\u2019m receiving a veil because I want my wedding to look and feel like my values. I thrifted my dress, I chose a local seamstress to alter the dress but when I tried it on, I felt something was missing. I wanted a veil but I didn\u2019t want to buy new because I didn\u2019t want to add anything to the landfill. So I posted a request for the veil on Buy Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sophie Janinet, 37, is recreating the low-waste, slower-paced values she once lived by in France through her local Buy Nothing community.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Abby Rodriguez, left, holds her wedding veil that she is lending Sophie Janinet, right, for her upcoming wedding. 2.<\/strong> Michele Sawers, left stands with Beth Penn, right, while giving her a decorative owl. <\/p>\n

A pigeon-spooking owl gets a second life<\/p>\n

Michele Sawers gives Beth Penn a decorative owl.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing from a place of luck, now I have plenty to give. The owl has been with me for 26 years. I bought the owl soon after I bought this house. The owl was purchased because I had a pigeon problem, they would camp out under my eves and I would have bird poop everywhere. The owl must have worked because they\u2019re gone and they haven\u2019t come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Michele Sawers, 58, uses Buy Nothing regularly to connect with her community and support her low-consumption values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things I don\u2019t want to own. So borrowing those things on Buy Nothing is really nice. There is a person who I borrowed their cooler twice and their ladder twice so I feel like they are my neighbor even though they are not [right next door]. We get these birds that poop on the deck and the recommendation online was to get a fake owl. When it was posted on Buy Nothing, I thought, \u2018I have to have that owl!\u2019 It\u2019s going to have a good home with me on the deck with some cats, a dog and some kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Beth Penn, 47, once helped build her local Buy Nothing group and now experiences it from the other side, as a member.<\/p>\n

Stuffed toys find a new purpose \"Two <\/p>\n

Magaly Leyva, left, stands with Tatiana Lonny, right, with the stuffed toys and play balls she is gifting her.<\/p>\n

(Dania Maxwell\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

Magaly Leyva gives stuffed toys and plastic play balls to Tatiana Lonny.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother-in-law gave the dolls and plastic play balls to my daughter, but she has so much. My daughter is not going to play with them with the same intent that another kid would, because she\u2019s really little. I\u2019d rather another kid use these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Magaly Leyva, 35, joined Buy Nothing nearly four years ago to find clothes for her nephew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m taking these new items to a township called Langa in South Africa. I know the kids there will be so happy. They have so little there. I\u2019m doing this all by myself, I\u2019m just collecting a GoFundMe for the suitcase fee at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tatiana Lonny, 51, began using Buy Nothing in hopes of finding resources to support the animals she rescues.<\/p>\n

A second helping<\/p>\n

Laura Cherkas gives Aurora Sanchez a cast iron pan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuy Nothing gives me the freedom to let go of things because I know that they will stay in the community and the neighborhood. I\u2019m giving a couple of cast iron items that my husband and I got when we were on a cast iron kick, probably during COVID. We determined that we don\u2019t actually use these particular pans and they were just making our drawers heavy. So we decided to let someone else get some use out of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate throwing things away. I want to see things have another life. Sometimes I take things to a donation center, but I like the personal connection with Buy Nothing and that you know that there is someone who definitely wants your item.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Laura Cherkas, 40, has built connections with other moms through Buy Nothing and values it as a way to cycle toys in and out for her child.<\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

Laura Cherkas, left, holds the pan she is gifting Aurora Sanchez, right, through Buy Nothing.<\/p>\n

(Dania Maxwell\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a cast iron pan because I cook a lot of grilled meat. I\u2019m excited to try this style of cooking out and it will help me when I cook for only one or two people. I got lucky because I was chosen to receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Aurora Sanchez, 54, has spent the past two years engaging with Buy Nothing, finding in it a sense of neighborly support that makes her feel valued while strengthening her connection to the community.<\/p>\n

Next player up \"A <\/p>\n

Joe Zeni, 70, is using his local Buy Nothing group on Facebook to give away a basketball hoop he used with his son when he was little.<\/p>\n

(Dania Maxwell\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

Joe Zeni first offered a basketball hoop on Buy Nothing in 2023, where it remains unclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m giving away a Huffy basketball freestanding hoop because it\u2019s just taking up space. We used to play horse and shoot baskets together. My son is now 35, he doesn\u2019t live here anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Zeni, 70, uses Buy Nothing often to give items away, believing many of the things he no longer needs still have purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In my L.A. Buy Nothing group, I started noticing how some objects, given for free from neighbor to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":745439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,718,18018,307081,33879,18996,307079,2961,224,2444,5337,3042,41802,3546,307080,307083,307082,10751,1628],"class_list":["post-745438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-community","tag-connection","tag-decorative-owl","tag-item","tag-kid","tag-l-a-buy-nothing-group","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-neighbor","tag-new-life","tag-people","tag-precious-thing","tag-sophie-janinet","tag-veil","tag-wedding","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116448615070699510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}