Hbg Community FREE Store & Pantry
Donation protected
We are Jake & Somers Compton, the owners of The Harrisburg Improv Theatre located at 1633 North Third Street (mid-town) Harrisburg, Pa.
www.hbgimprov.com
https://www.facebook.com/HBGHIT
We are about to be a family of 6, who have been living in Uptown for 10 of the last 12 years. Somers graduated from Harrisburg High in 2003. Years later, she married a Perry County man, and painstakingly convinced him to move to Maclay street and have their first child there!
We ran a DIY House Venue called The House of One Accord, where we hosted all ages shows in our home and opened it up to the community. We have organized several FREE stores over the years, just one day events in churches or outside our home.
We have a small, but wonderful community theatre space, that has been open for the last two years; along with that, we have a beautiful outdoor space that we have imagined many different uses for since we bought the building.
We have now decided on a plan!
We want to purchase a shed and make a FREE STORE & Food Pantry. Our vision would be simple and easy to enact.
Note: We rather use a shed, not the storage container. But these pictures demonstrate our vision.
FREE stores exist in other communities with great success. There is a Free Store at the Broad Street Market that occurs once a month seasonally, and we definitely stole the idea from them, as well as others doing it throughout the world!
We also saw that there is a movement of fridges being made available to the public for people to donate food and/or take food as needed. We thought this seemed like a very awesome thing to pair with clothing and other essentials.
We already have an established network of people who will help collect/donate/stock and assist in all areas, as well as the ability to reach out to sources to expand upon these ideas in the future.
Similar things being done are linked here...
http://www.freestore15104.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXPlJ1hxgs
https://www.facebook.com/events/1123593907664493/?hc_location=ufi
http://www.greenamerica.org/livinggreen/freestore.cfm
The money will go towards a simple wood shed with doors and, if we raise enough money, windows. We will install clothing racks, shelving etc. and a refrigerator for food. Any extra money would allow us to make it even nicer, i.e. lights, advertising, signs, painting, sidewalk leading to the store, etc.
Anyone could donate or take items. We have researched it and want to buy from a local Amish business-they have the best prices! (We might be able to get a deal when we tell them the plan for the shed.)
We are frugal, DIY people; we don't need anything fancy.
We thought start now, and small, with what we have and see what happens?
We are asking people to donate because we see a need and we simply cannot afford for it to be just us. We pride ourselves on the people we've attracted to the HIT and know once they, and other proud city residents, find out about the vision, they will want to help.
We hope this fundraiser will excite people to do this special thing together. We don't want to do this alone. This is about community.
Even though we run a bussiness, we have always done so with an attitude of gratitude for our friends, neighbors, and community. And we do not consider the space to be ours alone, but everyone's. Our space is located in an interesting area that intersects with residential and commercials spaces. There are people from all walks of life. We feel like no matter what, this can benefit us all and be a great fit for the area!
We are in no rush, but the sooner we secure funds, we can get it delivered, and get to work on setting things up! We are so excited to do this!
We cannot tell you in words what it would mean to us as two people, but we were hoping that we could share in the feeling of doing this together with anyone who wants to donate or help in anyway and feel it all toegther!
www.hbgimprov.com
https://www.facebook.com/HBGHIT
We are about to be a family of 6, who have been living in Uptown for 10 of the last 12 years. Somers graduated from Harrisburg High in 2003. Years later, she married a Perry County man, and painstakingly convinced him to move to Maclay street and have their first child there!
We ran a DIY House Venue called The House of One Accord, where we hosted all ages shows in our home and opened it up to the community. We have organized several FREE stores over the years, just one day events in churches or outside our home.
We have a small, but wonderful community theatre space, that has been open for the last two years; along with that, we have a beautiful outdoor space that we have imagined many different uses for since we bought the building.
We have now decided on a plan!
We want to purchase a shed and make a FREE STORE & Food Pantry. Our vision would be simple and easy to enact.
Note: We rather use a shed, not the storage container. But these pictures demonstrate our vision.FREE stores exist in other communities with great success. There is a Free Store at the Broad Street Market that occurs once a month seasonally, and we definitely stole the idea from them, as well as others doing it throughout the world!
We also saw that there is a movement of fridges being made available to the public for people to donate food and/or take food as needed. We thought this seemed like a very awesome thing to pair with clothing and other essentials.
We already have an established network of people who will help collect/donate/stock and assist in all areas, as well as the ability to reach out to sources to expand upon these ideas in the future.
Similar things being done are linked here...http://www.freestore15104.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXPlJ1hxgs
https://www.facebook.com/events/1123593907664493/?hc_location=ufi
http://www.greenamerica.org/livinggreen/freestore.cfm
The money will go towards a simple wood shed with doors and, if we raise enough money, windows. We will install clothing racks, shelving etc. and a refrigerator for food. Any extra money would allow us to make it even nicer, i.e. lights, advertising, signs, painting, sidewalk leading to the store, etc.
Anyone could donate or take items. We have researched it and want to buy from a local Amish business-they have the best prices! (We might be able to get a deal when we tell them the plan for the shed.)
We are frugal, DIY people; we don't need anything fancy.
We thought start now, and small, with what we have and see what happens?
We are asking people to donate because we see a need and we simply cannot afford for it to be just us. We pride ourselves on the people we've attracted to the HIT and know once they, and other proud city residents, find out about the vision, they will want to help.
We hope this fundraiser will excite people to do this special thing together. We don't want to do this alone. This is about community.
Even though we run a bussiness, we have always done so with an attitude of gratitude for our friends, neighbors, and community. And we do not consider the space to be ours alone, but everyone's. Our space is located in an interesting area that intersects with residential and commercials spaces. There are people from all walks of life. We feel like no matter what, this can benefit us all and be a great fit for the area!
We are in no rush, but the sooner we secure funds, we can get it delivered, and get to work on setting things up! We are so excited to do this!
We cannot tell you in words what it would mean to us as two people, but we were hoping that we could share in the feeling of doing this together with anyone who wants to donate or help in anyway and feel it all toegther!
Organizer
Somers Compton
Organizer
Harrisburg, PA