Transcript for the Piece Audio version of To Dream an Anarchist's Dream...

To Dream an Anarchist?s Dream

It?s an early afternoon on a humid, but breezy summer Saturday.
And there?s an outdoor festival getting setup around the playground in Edgecomb Circle ? a neighborhood set in Baltimore?s NorthWest.

A dj has begun to play music and a grill is starting to smolder and steam.
The block party is just getting set up.
And kids are riding their bikes from all directions.

Behind the dj?s setup today, The James D. Gross community center is hosting a young man?s ambitious dream.
An anarchist?s dream, actually, where everything is free.

Inside the community center, a young boy just found a recorder amidst boxes of toys, bookbags, and kids? clothes.
He picks up it up and asks if he can have it.
Happy with the response, he plays Mary Had a Little Lamb on his new, free, instrument.

THIS is Matt Warfield?s brainchild, The Baltimore Freestore.
Basically, it?s a traveling store where everything costs nothing.
Not one dollar.

And it?s based on some pretty basic principles of humanity:

My life is only as good as yours.

Here?s how it works ?
People donate stuff - suits, sneakers, microwaves, computers, games, - really ? anything, by dropping it the Freestore?s warehouse.
Then volunteers sort, organize, and move it out to various city neighborhoods.

In fact, The Freestore is completely run by more than 100 volunteers.
It?s a rather pure, grassroots effort to recycle.

Warfield says it started in 2000 when he and his Towson college friends organized a collective based on the philosophies of anarchism?

There?s a history of free stuff in anarchism.

The project morphed into a success almost immediately.
People began donating stuff - lots and lots of stuff.
So much stuff.
So little time.
And SO little room.
Reality started to sink in and Matt says The Freestore began to take on a sort of momentum he hadn?t anticipated --

Community empowerment and community control. The whole idea of anarchism went out the window

As the Freestore became more inclusive, more organization was needed, Matt said.
And besides the fact that NOT EVERYONE in the city wanted to live out the philosophy of anarchism ? another problem hit Matt when the Freestore began to take off.

Let?s talk about the idea that it costs money to run something free.
I didn?t go into this with the idea that I would be a fundraiser?

To dream an anarchist?s dream where everything was free - including the trucks and warehouse space ? seemed like a losing proposition.

It?s nice to think that things can magically happen.
Behind everything ? there?s people working very hard to make it happen.

Matt?s ideological dream for the Freestore was not panning out.
More than once in our conversation, he mentioned feeling burnt out.
In general, I?d say, he seemed a bit defeated.

Bring up ambi -
Nonetheless, he stands in the midst of this local festival ? his anarchist ideals unfulfilled, but The Freestore is an unmistakable success.

Looking around this Saturday?s Freestore, Matt might be the only one here with a tainted perspective ? which explains why he?s headed towards different projects and leaving the Freestore in the hands of his trusted volunteers.

Vonnie Simmons -

How many hours this week did you volunteer? So why? Once you say
you?re Going to do something ? your word is it. You have to come out and do what you can do.

Would you do your job for free?
At Baltimore?s Freestore, there seems to be a sort of spirit pushing the effort?a good feeling that keeps people donating their time and their wares?

41 year old volunteer David Wilson says you name it ? they have it at the Freestore?pots and pans, microwaves, suits, books, sneakers and shoes, air conditioners, kids? clothes, kids toys, fans?(trail off)

It?s really a beacon to the community. A lot of people who can?t afford stuff ? this helps them out ? I?m quite aure it?s coming?people from all over all cultures all backgrounds ? eb needs the help?people think bc you have that certain job?but the money get tight ? we all know that.

As volunteers and freestore customers roam the piles of folded jeans, pluck through the buckets of shoes?and sort through the random artifacts of other people?s lives, it?s hard to imagine a simpler, more altruistic way of providing a service to people.
People NEED stuff ? you know, like pans to cook with, a suit to wear to an interview,
new books.

But to Matt, the point of the Freestore goes beyond the material ?
Community activism plays a strong role in the Freestore?s mission.

we go out into a neighborhood ? we go out ? but the store is just a catalyst.
To bring people together. The idea is to get people out and talking and to take back the neighborhood from drug dealers and the gangs and the police who act just like gangs.

But even the enthusiasm of an activist has limits.
He says for every Freestore, they pack and unpack a truck 4 times.
And sometimes, there?s a Freestore every weekend of the month.

And so Matt is leaving the responsibilities of moving free stuff through Baltimore?s neighborhoods in the hands of trusted volunteers.
Two in particular are taking on the Freestore?s leadership?

I?m so and so and I?m so and so?.

As for the money? Tonya and Damien say they get paid in other ways?

It?s about serving the needs of people who really need it.
This lady was in tears bc she didn?t think she?d be able to get her new baby clothes.

Tonya says when she first came upon the Freestore?s generous offer - ?Take what you want, give what you can?, she immediately wanted to give back.
So, she started volunteering a year ago.

We started going to different neighborhoods, pulling people together. You know we don?t usually come together with out fighting.

Tonya looks at the Freestore?s future with an unmistakable passion .
She has an ability to see the bigger picture about how the city looks to many folks.

It feels good that we?re all pulling together for one cause ? you here a lot of things about how poverty is here and we don?t even want to look at it. Some of the little things that we may look at as little are big to someone else ? we recycling?and giving it to somebody who do need it.

While the Freestore still needs grant money to rent the warehouse, the trucks, and pay for general expenses, it?s still thriving as a movement based on strangers volunteering for the common good.

Maybe it?s not the anarchist movement, but it?s a good movement nonetheless.

(Music)

To give something ? your time, money, old treasures that are no longer relevant to your life?OR to find out when the next Freestore is happening log onto freestore.org or call 410.522.0722.

I?m Mary Rose Madden.

Sound offs on ?shoppers?

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