free clothing and potatoes:
Bringing Community Together in Age-Friendly Auburn

Recently, we learned of a wonderful program that the great volunteers of Age-Friendly Auburn have been conducting for the past several years. We asked Jan Biron to tell us about it.

In her own words:

Our Age-Friendly clothing giveaways are scheduled twice a year, coordinating with the warm and cold seasons.  We gather clothing all year long to store at the senior center until the next giveaway.  The donations are then transported by U-Haul to 121 Mill Street where the giveaway takes place.  The doors open at noon and the give-away goes until 3:00 p.m. No questions are asked and everyone is welcome. 

Thousands of pieces of clothing and many pairs of shoes and boots are given away, for men, women, children and even infants.  We provide large trash bags to the people who come in and, they are ALWAYS appreciative of our efforts on their behalf.

As far as I know, there are no other communities doing this, but we'd love to see it done!

If anyone wants to start up a give-away, this is a brief synopsis of what we did:  first, we had to get the word out to our senior groups, so they could go through their closets and cupboards to find clothing, blankets, sheets, shoes, belts, purses, etc.  We gathered everything together and then found a place to hold the event and locked in the dates. Then, we advertised it through food pantries, shelters, Facebook, etc.  The day of the event was wonderful.  People came in droves!  It was a great, heart-warming success!

Our potato give-aways are subsidized by the City of Auburn.  We give away hundreds of 5 lb bags of Bell Farms potatoes each year.  The give-away begins in the late summer/early fall, when the potato crop is harvested, and goes until late spring, or until the supplies are gone.  Age-Friendly Auburn, with help from the City of Auburn, pays for this drastically discounted program.  50 lb bags of potatoes (in 5 lb plastic bags) are delivered to the Auburn Senior Center about every two weeks, where seniors and others from the community can come and get them at no cost.  The only time I've had to buy a bag of potatoes is in the summer months when there are no more being delivered.  It truly is a Godsend.

Of course, we don't get the big "bakers."  We get mostly small to medium potatoes, but they are free and delicious!  I sometimes boil the really small ones in their skins and eat them with butter and salt & pepper, skins and all.

I haven't heard of any other community doing this, however, if anyone wants to partner with a potato grower, they could start one up in their community!