Let's Save the Spring Swap!

The Swapping Network Winnipeg's swaps for kids' clothing and toys are events that over 200 families look forward to every Spring and Fall. They are non-profit, completely volunteer run, free community events. We have grown so much these last few years thanks to like-minded parents sharing their items and a dedicated team of volunteers! The more we share, the more we have.

Our event has run into a snag this year and we need to raise enough funds to make it happen. We are hoping you can help!

We usually raise all the funds needed to run this event by hosting a craft sale alongside our free swapping event. Not only does this event promote awesome local makers & businesses (which we love!) but the funds raised pay for our venue rental, lunch for our hardworking team of volunteers, and other costs. Unfortunately our current venue (WEFC) cannot accommodate a craft sale anymore so we must find another way. We have the date booked for the Spring Swap which will be Saturday April 30th 2016. The end of March is our goal to have the funds we need. If all of our past participants pitched in just $3-$4 or so, we would be able to raise what we need to make this Spring Swap a success once again!

How does a swap event work? Families drop off their gently used maternity items, clothing (newborn to age 14+), toys, books, etc pre-sorted and cleaned. They get a ticket to come back that same day. Our volunteer team works to set out all donations, organized by size, gender, type. Participants come back and take what they need for their families for the upcoming season. Very simple! No money involved. Take only what you need. We all have enough to go around. ALL our leftover items get spread out between 6-8 charities across the province. Everybody wins!

This event started about 7 years ago with a few friends and has grown to include over 200 families! We offer assistance to first time parents by allowing them to come without bringing any swap donations. They are free to help themselves to much-needed maternity and baby items in the 0-6 month age range. We fully understand how hard it can be when baby #1 is on the way. It is our hope that each of these families will pay it forward by coming to future swaps, as their families continue to grow.

We are hoping that with your donations, we can raise the $700 we need to run this event. This will cover the venue rental fees, supplies, food for our team of volunteers, and honorariums for our Spring Swap. Any donations over $700 will be used to help us secure a NEW (hopefully long-term) venue for future events. Our Fall swap is usually at the end of September and we hope to find a new facility very soon. We are very open to hearing from people if they have leads on potential new venues for our events. As a completely not-for-profit group we need a place that is affordable, but can accommodate our needs. We require the ability to run our popular craft & trade show alongside our swap in order to cover the costs of the event. Please send any info to [email redacted] or call Jaimie at [phone redacted]. Thank you!

We truly believe that events like this help build our community up. Raising a family has many costs and we hope to help alleviate some of that by coming together and sharing what we have. Thank you so much to all of our past participants, craft sale vendors, and volunteers!

Your support is greatly appreciated and will be felt by many families across Manitoba! Let's make this a swap for the record books!

The Swapping Network Winnipeg Coordinators:
Jaimie Siemens
Lee Graham
Kisa MacIsaac


(Photos donated by long-time swap volunteer Jenn Doran of Songbird Photography)

Seen here is some of our volunteers organizing all of the donations & getting things ready for our swappers to come back and "shop" for their free items.
Below is our happy swappers searching for the things they need for their growing families.

Some of our awesome craft sale vendors! We have also provided space free of charge to local non-profit organizations like Got Bannock? and Inspire Community Outreach so they can fundraise for their initiatives as well.


This is our hardworking team of volunteer parents & kids from our Fall Swap 2014. Our team has now grown to include about 30 people!

Thanks again for taking the time to visit our go fund me page! We hope to see many familiar and new faces at our Spring Swap for Kids' Clothing & Toys 2016 at the Winnipeg Evangelical Free Church. 500 Lagimodiere Blvd. Winnipeg. Please look for our event page on Facebook and join our Facebook group: The Swapping Network.

FB event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1665836606987837/