For the first time in two years, Warwick’s Too Good To Toss community recycling event was held in person at the basketball court at Stanley Deming Park. The event provides a central place for people to donate unwanted items and provide useful goods to others who need or want them.
On Saturday 27th August, residents of Warwick’s hamlets, villages and towns collected valuable items such as unupholstered furniture, mirrors, framed artwork, lamps, gardening supplies, tools, media, office supplies, sporting goods and bicycles. I donated items that I used to. , baby products, toys, crafts, art supplies, clothing, linens, books, games, puzzles, household items, and small electronics that are in good repair and come with all working parts. Volunteers helped citizens unload donations from vehicles, inspected items to ensure they were in good condition, and sorted them into categories. Other volunteers organized donations into categories that were shoppable at tables protected by tents.
On Sunday, August 28, everyone could shop for free, no matter where they lived. When organizers Elizabeth Knight and Peyton Her Swenson arrived at her basketball court around 9 a.m., they were met by a line of eager shoppers waiting patiently for the gates to open. Between 10am and 12:45pm he was allowed 625 shoppers (from about 50 at a time to him 70, depending on how many were already on the court). The gatekeeper stopped counting and acknowledged those who had arrived. Volunteers began sorting, boxing, and bagging leftovers at 4pm, and people continued to drop by and shop until the gates were locked at 6pm.
When the Salvation Army canceled a scheduled pick-up of leftovers due to a shortage of vehicles and drivers, organizers had to panic. All the clothing, linens and books were taken away Sunday night by Warwick residents who said they would ship them to charities in Haiti, Jamaica and South Florida. On Monday, August 29, the organizers of her St. Stephen the First Martyr Church tag sale in Warwick and a few members of her team collected what could be used for the event. Other donations were packed by volunteers and delivered to private residences for Vietnam veterans to pick up. The organization does not collect donations from public places.
Volunteers also sorted recyclable items such as cardboard, paper, glass and metal into boxes and bags placed by the entrance gate for the Department of Public Works to pick up.
Too Good To Toss proved to be an infectious idea. On Tuesday, Aug. 30, her Rosemaire Bastanza, a confidential secretary to her supervisor in Towns, forwarded an email from her Kasie Foulk, a planning and research specialist at the Jamestown City Development Department in New York.
Ms. Foulk “…looking at towns and cities of similar size, I’ve met too many good days for Toss Toss. Here, you pay a garbage disposal company to provide a trash can. , sometimes we have a day of amnesty, but I like this idea that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure and many items can use a second home…” Elizabeth Knight, too The Good To Tos founder also answered Falk’s list of questions about how to plan and organize similar events.
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