These Lee’s Summit gift-economy groups embrace neighbors helping neighbors

In the market for holiday decorations or gently used kids clothing? How about the head from an adult-size bunny costume? Or perhaps you have used clothing or household items you want to give away in a meaningful way. The Lee’s Summit Buy Nothing groups have you covered.

Lee’s Summit has two groups — a North group and a South group — divided by 50 Highway and serving close to 3,630 members between them. The South group formed in 2015 and is administered by Angie Florine and Jamie Gerhart. The North group launched in 2020 with HeatherAnne Norbury and Lisa King serving as co-administrators.

The two local organizations are part of more than 8,000 registered Buy Nothing Facebook groups worldwide. Around 14 million members are involved in the movement. The hyperlocal, neighborhood-specific, gift economy groups are based on three tenets: give, ask and gratitude. The first Buy Nothing group began in 2013 in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Developed to provide a user-friendly way for neighbors to better help one another, the groups also keep usable items out of landfills.

“Things you would normally throw away are finding a real use,” Norbury said. “One person’s trash is truly another person’s treasure.”

Both Lee’s Summit groups have grown steadily with members making several dozen give, ask or gratitude posts per day. The majority of the Facebook posts are offers of free, no-strings-attached gifts.

“There’s people who give abundantly and freely,” Florine said, “from food to furniture, children’s items, diapers. There’s no limit to the generosity that some people are putting out there.”

In addition to emphasizing neighbors helping neighbors, the Buy Nothing groups build community through the gift economy.

“They are so supportive and caring about one another,” Norbury said. “If somebody posts ‘I need this thing and I’m really having a hard time,’ the comments aren’t just ‘here have the thing.’ They’re ‘oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.’”

By giving away things through Buy Nothing, members have the opportunity to share the significance of their items.

Norbury said passing on these stories was one reason she decided to found the North group.

“I’m sort of the last member standing for two estates in my family,” she said, “I wanted to give these things away and get them out of my house and move them on in a meaningful way.”

When giving away items from her family, Norbury said she always shares the story.

“A part of the Buy Nothing culture is that connection with a person,” she said. “Really, the items are just items. It’s the story that makes them special.”

Aidy Bee of the North group called Buy Nothing “a super accessible form of mutual aid without barriers.”

It can also be a source of comfort during a difficult loss.

“I also really enjoyed being able to gift my pet’s gently used items to another pet family, which brought me some joy during a time of grieving,” Bee said.

Popular giveaways include children’s items, furniture, kitchenware, seasonal items and plants as well as food from pantry cleanouts.

But you never know what someone else will have a use for, and the local volunteer administrators encourage members to consider gifting even unlikely items.

Members of the Buy Nothing Lee’s Summit North Facebook group recently shared some of the more unusual things they have given or received, including a Costco pumpkin pie with one slice removed, sea shells, paper bags, an upright piano in excellent condition, a sourdough starter, uprooted flowers or an old sod roller.

“The oddest thing I saw being gifted was the creepy rabbit head (from a costume) and darn it, I wasn’t chosen to receive it,” said Lesa Gerwick of the North group.

Although asks are not as common as gifts, requests for specific items are welcomed. Norbury once posted an ask on behalf of her daughter for a seven-drawer dresser in a specific color. Another member responded with a near match to give away.

“It was exactly what she wanted,” she said. “We turned around and gifted her old dresser to somebody else who had a new baby coming. With asks, we always tell people to shoot for the moon because you never know if somebody is out there trying to get rid of something.”

By keeping the groups hyperlocal, the members are building community and helping others in a meaningful way each day.

“It’s connecting neighbors in a very disconnected world,” Norbury said.