By Valerie Nett
What’s the Oshkosh Vagabond Network Free Store?
It’s a thing people do for other people because they can. It doesn’t come together in one night. It’s each of us, squirreling away a little money for someone else. It’s storing boxes of bulk purchased items in your guest room as they arrive each month until It’s Free Store day. It’s going out before your night shift job to shop locally for the essentials that weren’t left over from last month and aren’t as easily found in bulk. It’s “some assembly required” sometimes. It’s loading multiple cars as full as they can get, sometimes needing multiple trips. It’s setting up tables in the snow and the hot sun. And when it’s 2pm on the 3rd Saturday of the month, it’s hearing sincere “thank you” from people who are just trying to make through the day.
Some have a roof over their heads at night, but it takes every penny they have to keep it there, which doesn’t leave enough for everything else. Some have a bed at the local shelter, but only if they make it back before 6 pm. At 6:01, the doors are locked and anyone who missed their bus or was held up by traffic when crosssing streets, is SOL for the night. Some have nothing but a tarp and a sleeping bag, which we likely provided them. And it’s probably been replaced six times over, because the city will throw them away if they see them. It’s an incredible waste. But that only renews the need, so OVN fills it. Again and again.
Help us help.
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