Free Store Giveaway Well Attended
The Town of New Lebanon free store, started by now Town Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling 5 years ago when she was Town Clerk, is now being overseen by the Climate Smart Task Force of New Lebanon as one of its climate smart actions (reduce, reuse, recycle).
Since COVID started, the Free Store has not been able to be accessed by the public, with donations just sitting untouched at the town hall. CSC member Sarah Steadman and volunteer Zineb Lamaani had the idea to have a one day pop up event at the Lebanon Valley Protective Association (LVPA) fire house where there was plenty of room to spread out all donations and safely socially distance. CSC volunteers, Supervisor Houghtling and a crew of community members came together to move everything to the LVPA, set it all up and invite the public in on Sunday, November 22 from 11 am to 3 pm to take anything they could use for free. All visitors were given a health screening, wore masks and sanitized while keeping the numbers of families in the building to 4 at one time to ensure a safe, socially distanced event.
The function drew up to 20 families at one time waiting in the parking lot for their turn. Over 125 people attended and everyone left with bags full of great, new to them, items! It was a successful event that provided much needed clothes, shoes, toys, books and more to so many in our community! Supervisor Houghtling later said “It truly takes a village and it is a wonderful thing to be a part of ours!”