Buy Nothing

Submitted photo

Lilea Heine’s family created a more sustainable holiday season last year by sourcing items

from Buy Nothing Napa—including their tree and decorations. Gifts were wrapped in reusable cloth bags made by Heine and her children. In this photo, Heine’s children are holding up a bag filled with the total landfill-bound waste from their holiday celebration. “Having a Buy Nothing Holiday also meant having a holiday that was gentle on our planet,” Heine said.

Recently, Henries-Meisner used Buy Nothing Napa as inspiration for curriculum units she was creating for young students.

The purpose of the units was to teach justice and advocacy, and for young children to think about what a “just world” would look like, she explained.

“I wanted to present kids with some sort of example — some way to visualize a sort of utopia where everyone is treated with kindness and gets what they need. And then it came to me,” Henries-Meisner said. “There is one place on earth where I see a just world in action, and that’s this group.”

Heine started the Buy Nothing Napa group in February 2020, having no idea of the pandemic ahead.

“It was actually excellent timing,” she said.

Local resident Maria Giusti joined Buy Nothing Napa at the end of April in 2020 — a mere month into the pandemic.

“A friend told me about it and said the group reminded her of me and how I’m always giving away my things freely,” Giusti recalled. “I was excited to find a whole group that thought the same way as I did about gifting. To give without attachments!”

In the early months of the shutdown, members of Buy Nothing Napa helped one another by giving away small desks and other tools for at-home learning.

Other members, with kitchen expertise, offered cooking classes via Zoom. Another offered to repair broken bikes.

Giusti has given a wide range of items — from extra food in her fridge to her grandmother’s antique purse.

“I even knitted a rainbow scarf for a member’s child who had it on their wishlist. The gift of one’s skill is a fabulous experience,” she said.

Napa resident Melissa Officer joined Buy Nothing Napa in June of 2020.

Since then she has received many wonderful items from fellow members including a Stokke Tripp Trapp chair for her toddler, homemade jams, a queen-size bed and mattress, as well as toys, and books.

She has also given an abundance of items including pantry food staples, kitchen appliances, a propane BBQ, clothes, and dishes.

Most recently, Officer gave away a pink tote bag filled with fun surprises like a rhinestone pendant, unused skin care products, and other self-care items.

“I chose to give it to someone who gifted it to their mother going through chemotherapy,” Officer said. “It feels wonderful to give things to someone who is really happy to receive it and put it to use.”

Belonging to the Buy Nothing community has been a “gift in and of itself” during the pandemic, Officer said. She’s formed friendships with several fellow group members, and her husband and kids have met more people, too, by walking and biking to pick up items.

“I actually just happened upon the group,” Officer said. “I feel really lucky to have found it when I did because shortly thereafter the group reached its cap of 1,000 people and closed the membership.”

Membership is capped at 1,000, Heine said, to keep the group small enough for everyone to really get to know one another. This way, no one is “lost in the shuffle,” Heine said.

Because of this cap, a second Buy Nothing Facebook group was formed to serve Napa neighborhoods. That group, called Napa North/Vintage High District, is still open to new members.

The Buy Nothing Project has established strict guidelines for all of its chapters to follow, including a boundary map that administrators must adhere to.

Maria Giusti is one of the helpers who assist Heine in moderating the group.

“Sometimes we spend hours communicating about a post and how to be sure it fits within all our Buy Nothing guidelines,” Giusti said.

To ensure the gifting economy model is followed, any posts offering to buy, sell, or trade goods or services are removed.

“The way the Project is structured is really unique,” Heine said. “It’s not for everyone.”

When it is safe, Heine said she hopes to coordinate in-person meetings (perhaps Halloween costume swaps or potlucks, for example) for members of Buy Nothing Napa

Heine said multiple members have told her how grateful they are to have a “sense of community” and a connection to their neighbors, particularly during the past year.

“Gratitude” posts, as they are known, are common and encouraged as part of the Buy Nothing Project.

“It’s pretty amazing what the community can do for itself just by leaning on its members,” Heine said.