Creating a Movement
Change Maker
In January 2025 Maya our Founder was listed as one of the top 100 change makers in the UK. She recalls when she first came up with the idea of a community Freeshop people thought she was crazy. She replied , I might be a little crazy but I think I’m Crazy enough to make it work. To be a change maker you have to have confidence in your convictions and keep going until you make it work. This is exactly what happened with the Freeshop. Its not been plain sailing all the way but the result speaks for itself.
Creative Thinking
When you create a community businesses out of nothing , not massive start up grants or funds you have to be creative to get things done. When you are dealing with large volumes of waste that no one else can handle you have to think outside the box. In the first few months of the Freeshop a local hotel had seen Maya’s community support centre on Facebook and wanted to donate 50 beds and mattresses (they were having a remodel). Local homeless charities couldn’t accept them due to lack of space. Even local furniture charities drew a blank. Maya accepted all 50 beds and mattresses and had distributed them in one week. Local removal firms gave their time for free and a local estate agent found an empty shop where the landlord agreed to us using it for storage for a month. Imagine how many happy families that created. It was hard work but thinking outside of the norm saved the day.
Cutting Edge
Making use of technology has been really important to our success. Being able to spread the word successfully on social media to galvanise, motivate and inspire the community to come together to help one another. With some video’s receiving 100,000s of impressions word soon spread to businesses that had waste and would like some positive publicity that they could visit Maya’s Freeshop and achieve both.
Crafting Future Freeshops Training Academy (launched in 2025) really is paving the way for the future of a Freeshop being present in every one of the 1100 towns in the United Kingdom. By documenting and systemising the processes and procedures which make Maya’s Freeshop so successful we have been training other community champions to open Community Interest Companies , fund raise , recruit volunteers and find suitable premises.
Creating a Movement
Clever Upcycling
Items don’t always need a genius in engineering to re-purpose them. A little imagination and one mans surplus items can be a treasure for a family or person in need. Some items come into the Freeshop which are quite obscure , people having a clear out of their loft and find items from a generation ago. When someone finds them in the Freeshop and relives their past in a moment of nostalgia the item has new life once again.
Crazy
The adage you Don’t have to be crazy to work here but it helps could apply to the freeshop but only for people who don’t truly understand the benefits of volunteering and helping others. Our volunteers are an amazing group of individuals who follow the leadership of Maya knowing that they can be themselves without being branded crazy. There is a fine line between genius and insanity and we think that the Freeshop movement , creating value out of surplus items whilst saving 10,000s tonnes of CO2 is genius.
Challenging Norms
Our Surplus food bank operates at 9pm every evening of the year. Most food banks operate in morning or lunchtime, however the majority of fresh food which is surplus is written down at 8-8.30pm. In order to adhere to food hygiene regulations and distribute ‘Use by’ items same day the food bank has to run at 9pm. Whilst some say this is too late , if you are hungry and willing to wait you can have access to good quality fresh food that would have otherwise gone to the bin.
Collective Action
We united five local food banks together for joint grant applications and sharing of surplus food. We pick up large volumes of surplus food from two food factories , when this happens we don’t have more than a day or two so working in partnership with others is vital.
Colouring Outside
the lines is sometimes necessary to deal with large volumes of surplus items safely and responsibility. What helps us is the experience of our volunteers who have grown up in the culture where fresh ideas are nurtured , welcomed and encourage. When our volunteers come up with a unique solution no ones has thought of is something to celebrate.
