Online group has giving spirit to spare

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This article was published 16/02/2021 (1856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When I joined my local “buy nothing” Facebook group a few months ago, I wasn’t expecting to find a community.

At most, I thought maybe I would find something of use, while having the option to give away some stuff I no longer had use for. However, I quickly discovered many of the more active members had a greater story and purpose for being involved.

One member in particular, Kimberlee (who prefers to use her first name only), navigated her way through this and other online parenting groups effortlessly. She posts items she no longer needs, asks for things her family could use and for items for other people in need.

“In January 2019, we became a family of five children overnight,” said Kimberlee, a foster mother with a large extended family, with children ranging from infant to teen (and two sets of siblings). “The way the finances are set up in the fostering community is that you get paid the following month, so everything is out of pocket initially.”

While she and her husband were excited to welcome the children, she didn’t feel prepared. The family already had a baby, but with another infant coming into the home she was going to need double of everything.

She reached out to her buy nothing group — and the outpouring of support was overwhelming.

“People would just hit me up in my inbox, asking, ‘Do you need clothes?’ Or ‘What size are the girls in?’ It was just so overwhelming and it was so beautiful. So many people just really wanted to gather around my family and make sure that we were OK,” Kimberlee said.

“That in itself was enough for me to say, ‘OK, I need to pay back this community,’ because they are so wonderful, and they love us unconditionally and they just want to help and so now it’s my turn.”

Everything she was given was given freely, so when she was done using the items she would pass them on to someone else. Kimberlee often honed in on people in similar situations or who may be struggling in other ways.

“It was in that buy nothing group that another woman reached out and showed me how to coupon,” Kimberlee said, noting prior to that the woman would do it for her, dropping off items such as baby formula. “I got really good at it and built up a surplus, and with that surplus I decided that I wanted to help other moms in need.”

She collects coupons and baby formula cheques, obtains the formula and delivers it free of charge to others in the “Winnipeg Moms” Facebook group.

“(The group) is all about trying to help vulnerable and marginalized moms to reach those stepping stones and get over the issues that come with poverty and leaving domestic partnerships. It’s all about gathering resources and helping one another,” she said.

“Any time there is a large need, I know I have the capacity to help, so I do. I know I have the ability to teach, so I try.”

Kimberlee often weaves in and out of a number of online community groups, connecting dots for people in need. In many cases, she will put out a Facebook post, explaining a situation she is helping with or a movement she is behind, asking if people can help.

She will then go out and gather the items people have offered to help with and pass them on. Kimberlee calls herself a “middle-person,” connecting people who want to help with those who need it.

Since she has such a large family and cares for small children, Kimberlee is often organizing her efforts in what she calls “a lot of little minutes throughout the day.”

This past Christmas, Kimberlee and a friend organized 148 hampers for families throughout Winnipeg. She is currently working with the fire keepers of Thunderbird House, among other giving initiatives.

Kimberlee credits her buy nothing group, whom she says are like family, for helping her make a difference.

“I want this community to feel the love and support that my family got,” she said. “I’m just so happy to be able to do this. I have a natural capacity to organize and distribute where the need is, and I will do it forever if I can.”

shelley.cook@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @ShelleyACook