Global Facebook Project To 'Buy Nothing' Comes To Forest Hills

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- Imagine an online community where you can browse your neighbors' ads for free stuff and maybe even get rid of your own household clutter in the process.

If you thought of Craigslist, organizers say, you're missing the point.

This is the "Buy Nothing Project," a global movement spawned on Facebook to connect communities through hyperlocal groups where members share everything from goods to time to talent without money changing hands. There are now roughly 2,000 groups across the world in the network, which - as of July - expanded to include Forest Hills.

"It's a movement to get to know your neighbors through generosity," said Leona Dalphond, who recently launched the project's first group in Forest Hills. "It's basically hyperlocal giving."

And the word "hyperlocal" is not to be taken lightly.

The Buy Nothing Project was launched by friends Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark out of Washington in 2013 to give people a platform to "reduce, reuse and recycle" unwanted goods while getting to know their neighbors, according to its website. To ensure members "give where they live," each group has strict rules about who can join.

Global admins set geographic boundaries based on a neighborhood's population meant to keep each group from surpassing 25,000 members, and residents are forbidden from joining more than one, Dalphond told Patch.

Based on that model, Forest Hills - whose population is roughly 86,000 - should have three separate Facebook groups. Dalphond said hers only covers a fraction of the neighborhood. Members must live in the neighborhood's Southeast portion spanning 71st Avenue to Union Turnpike and Grand Central Parkway.

"The rationale behind that is you literally meet your neighbors and develop a relationship with them, so it's not just like Craigslist," Dalphond said.

But the group's limited boundaries have rubbed some Forest Hills residents the wrong way. On a Facebook post advertising the new group, one commenter said he sensed "a lily white, upper middle class exclusivity" from its tightly defined quarters while others were skeptic that it sounded like a scam.

"Sounds like spam!! Someone is making $$," wrote another commenter.

Dalphond understands both concerns and said she's been doing her best to quash them. But she can only do so much when much of the group's structure - including its geographic boundaries - aren't up to her.

"I did at one point request this group be Rego Park, Forest Hills and Kew Gardens, because I've seen that they do often function as one community," she said.

Ultimately, Dalphond said her request was denied because "we have to follow the policies of the greater group so this doesn't become anonymous."

She still fears, though, that those policies have made it harder for her group to gain traction. Skeptics aside, Dalphond said she's gotten the boot from neighborhood Facebook groups for simply trying to adverte the page.

A few weeks into its launc, the group boasted just over 50 members and only two posts giving away used dog supplies.

"It's been a bit slow growing," she said.

But Dalphond remains hopeful. The group has slowly been picking up as more people learn what it's about.

"The idea of this project is that all of our needs can be met by ourselves and the people around us if we take the time to reach out and build those relationships," she said.

"People have been able to accomplish a lot with their community through this. I think we could use some of that in central Queens."

Founders of the By Nothing Project did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

(Lead image: A 'free clothing boutique' set up by members of a local Buy Nothing Facebook group. Photo by Liesl Clark/By Nothing Project)