Spring 2015 Corvallis Family Clothing Swap

Hey, all!!

Sorry for the short absence there.
It was a kinda crazy weekend.

Firstly, with the turn in health the kiddos had...it went straight to Dash too and had him really laid up in bed all Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (>_<)!! Poor guy but also what poor timing because this past Saturday was also...drumroll please...

The Spring 2015 Corvallis Family Clothing Swap!!

Okay, so by now you readers ought to know quite a bit about this love of mine.
But if you want to read past posts about it, check out this, this, and of course the article in the local newspaper.

It really has grown very large and has also turned into a seasonal, rather than biannual, event.
Thanks to sponsorship from Gentle Beginnings Midwifery Care, and then the First Presbyterian Youth Ministry.

What started as just reaching out to mamas and kiddos, has become an all-family inclusive event, that really reaches people from all over the socioeconomic spectrum here in town and beyond! In fact, I met someone who said they came down from WA and an old friend came up from Burkley! Granted, it wasn't solely for this one event, but I still like to think folks from afar will take back with them the idea of a Clothing Swap to spread in their own hometown. :)

There were a couple of things that made this Swap even better than ones past, and they are the following:

1) lots of volunteers!
I finally got the idea to make the volunteer signup form more public so that a big variety of people (mostly Gift Economy members!) could sign up. Of course, by the end there were only three of us having to deal with this mountain of leftovers, so that's oooone area that could always use some extra love, but all in all, I was pleased with everyone's help!

2) more volunteering positions!
I added the two jobs of Greeter and Maintenance Crew to the list of duties. The Greeters made a point to approach people just walking in to explain how the Swap works and direct them where need-be or to even help take their contributions off their hands so that they can get right into the browsing. The Maintenance Crew was in charge of making sure that tables stayed relatively orderly and were on the look-out for any tables that were getting overly filled and chaotic. The 2T-4T table has been notorious for that in the past...

3) a microphone!
In the past, I've had to yell over the roar of the crowds to make my announcements (greetings, reminders, etc) but this time I made sure to have the onsite microphone system up and running for us. :) It worked like a gem...until William touched a button and I couldn't get it to turn on again... >_<!! Oh well, lessons learned~

4) donated food!
Only three days before the event, I made lots of cold calls to local businesses to see about getting any treats donated to the event, so that attendees could be kept fed and happy. I had an amazing turnout from it! We had the following foods:
- sourdough loaves, baguettes, and rolls from Alpine Sourdough Bakery
- sweet mexican breads and pasteries from Pilos Bakery
- Hamantaschen cookies from New Morning Bakery
- various muffins from Sam's Station
- huge tray of cookies from Taylor Street Ovens

I was almost afraid I'd have "too many" but it was all cleared out by the end of the event. All I contributed was butter to smear on the breads... Mmm, yummy.

5) new signs!
Last but not least was the generous contribution from K.K. to redo the table signs with bright new colors and sturdy laminate finish!
It may sound like a small thing, but it was a huge improvement in making "categories" of clothes easy to spot and more durable for the long haul. :)


Hmm, I think that's all the "new improvements" I can think of for this Swap.

The only downsides to the event were:
1) We didn't have full access to the hall at 11am, as I'd asked for, so we had to scramble to get tables set up when people were already coming and dumping stuff. That threw a bit of a wrench into the works, but the group taking up our space did apologize and try to help set up tables with us.

2) I had to ask for money this time around because our sponsorship wasn't able to cover the whole fee for the space, and though I had a Suggested Donation jar, it was a little too out of the way and neglected, so we didn't reach the amount needed. D'oh! Thankfully, that is being remedied on the Gift Economy site. But still, I feel bad having to ask, and I just hope from now on we can secure sponsorship that really covers all our fees :)

3) There was a bit of a scare there when S.G. couldn't find her wedding ring and my stomach was turning flips hoping to high Heaven that it would be safely recovered... Thankfully, it was! But the couple of hours when it was missing was very nerve-wracking and I was afraid I'd have to label this Swap as "the infamous Swap where S.G.'s precious wedding ring got lost ;_;" Phew!!


Anyway, back to the Swap:
I personally didn't take any photos (darn!!) but I am hoping some folks who attended snapped some shots. And if not, oh well... There's always next time!

And I am starting to think there might be a pattern where the day following the Swap I am so exhausted from all the effort of the day prior, that I have a little lapse in health. So Sunday I spent most of the day in bed and though I feel better today I haven't had much of an appetite since Satuday! Hm, very un-Chrissylike~


Well, thanks for reading that super long post.
I hope you all stay well and enjoy this continuing glorious weather.
If you attended the Swap, lemme know what treasures you took home with you in the Comments section :)

Until then, take care and Happy Clothing Swap!!