MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Laura Gernell heard about a place where people gave away perfectly good things to strangers — no money changing hands, no questions asked — she figured it was too good to be true.
But husband Ronald had lost his job as a truck driver and she was temporarily unemployed with an infant son. So she joined the Freecycle Network, a Web-based community swap program, and asked whether anyone had a sofa to spare.
“I was just looking for the basics, just something to sit on,” said the Marmet 32-year-old.
Three people e-mailed with offers, and she used the sofa from that day in 2004 until last summer, when springs broke.
Today, she runs West Virginia’s largest Freecycle group, 2,100 members strong.
“It just has completely floored me, the generosity of people,” Gernell said.
Freecycle is a global recycling phenomenon. Since it started in Arizona in May 2003, it has grown to more than 4 million members in more than 4,100 cities, from Istanbul to Inwood. It boasts of keeping more than 300 million tons of trash out of landfills every day.
“It’s just all sorts of countless acts of random kindness,” said founder and executive director Deron Beal, 40, of Tucson.
Find a Colorado chapter at .
