Last week we ran a drive at Carousell that we simply called #AllForFree. I’m sure you guys can figure out what the drive was all about 😆 LOL!
We created this drive because we wanted to help used items make their way to the hands of the people who want and need them more directly. We’ve read news articles about donated clothes ending up in landfills and we’ve seen more thrift shops closing down. We’ve also seen generous Carousellers offering things for free on our platform, just as a blessing for Carousellers in need 😇
So we put together this big campaign to bring more awareness to the more generous Carousellers and to spotlight the items they have to give away. It was a pretty successful campaign too, and we were so happy to see a lot of items find their way into new homes.
I was also quite inspired by this movement, so I also put up some of my own items on the #AllForFree collection. I still have some gifts that I’d received for Christmas that I wouldn’t really use, and I was also helping my sister to declutter some baby stuff.
And I’m so glad I did this!
I met one of the buyers (well, not really a buyer since it was free in this case, so I guess maybe you can call him a taker?) at a MRT station, and the experience really caught me off-guard. Normally when you meet a Carouseller for a deal, it’d be thanks, maybe a handshake, sometimes a chat if you guys are fans of the item being sold (like when I sold some My Little Ponies).
This time though, the thanks just kept coming. I mean, to me it was just some portable cutlery and no big deal (I didn’t need it because I already had a set). But this girl was so thankful and couldn’t believe that I was giving it away for free. She kept praising my generosity and thanking me. I felt a little bit uncomfortable and undeserving of the praise.
The other item, some baby toys, was met with the same type of response. A huge amount of thanks and lots of gratefulness. Kept asking if I was really giving it away for free.
I must admit, I used to be a bit cynical about charity drives, especially with scandals floating around about rich mums in BMWs sending their domestic helpers to collect free textbooks meant for under-privileged kids. But after these two encounters, I understand that they’re important because they mean a lot to a lot of people.
Call me young and sheltered, but I felt really proud that Carousell did this, and I hope we can do it more often.
Photo credit: Pay It Forward
