People do this to the Little Free Libraries that dot our liberal neighborhoods. Especially when they proliferated during Covid. The solution was, for the tenacious, just to rebuild and restock it. Eventually they got left alone. But, a couple churches got old newspaper machines and filled them with food and hygiene supplies, left them around the neighborhood for the folks who have trouble stretching their budgets. Every morning, all the bags of cereal would be exploded across the street, the macaroni and dry goods would be scattered on sidewalks, canned food thrown against rock walls. Or it’d just all be taken at once, and the machine tipped over. They stopped doing those.
This is pretty much the solution. Just rebuild/restock.
I have a little library that also contained snacks. It was always used by the neighborhood kids. Camera attached too. The first few weeks, books all over the ground or all the snacks taken. And the cameras pointed to a few homeless people.
But after three years (and constant maintenance), I now even see the homeless be respectful and take only the snacks they need.
It doesn’t feel good to turn the other cheek those first few times, trust me. But now it’s a part of the neighborhood and other neighbors even come and add snacks.
Little free libraries are awesome. I love putting stuff in there and seeing it’s been taken & replaced. I put a lot of zine type stuff in them. The thought of people destroying them just for giggles or because they personally oppose them is sickening. It’s free books and food! You have to be a monster to oppose that.
I mean, my mom found a Golden Book version of Little Black Sambo which featured black face and racist illustrations and whatnot. She took it but left it up to me but even that I didn’t really want to burn it for the reason you said.
Buuuut it did disappear from our place at some point and I don’t know who may have thrown it out. But like, I get it in this case.
My city has a bunch of those free food boxes scattered around and I’ve never seen the vandalism like you’re talking about. I wonder if there’s a difference in environment that could be causing that. I bet if the churches kept stocking them and not giving up eventually the vandalism would stop just like it did with the little free libraries
Little Free Libraries were actual grassroots things, this is obviously a corporation trying to squeeze into a new market by offering the first one free (because the city is paying for it).
If I’m reading the side of this thing correctly, it requires an app to get the ball out which means using it opens someone up for potential legal/money issues if they get blamed for using the balls. It looks like a trap to me, and I’m not someone who already had to deal with stuff like being blamed for damage to those rental scooters or other app tracked things.
This is Canadian Tire Jumpstart so it’s likely operated by a charity foundation run by a major hardware retailer. The app system seems kind of stupid, but I don’t believe at first glance the aim was to profit out of this scheme.
People do this to the Little Free Libraries that dot our liberal neighborhoods. Especially when they proliferated during Covid. The solution was, for the tenacious, just to rebuild and restock it. Eventually they got left alone. But, a couple churches got old newspaper machines and filled them with food and hygiene supplies, left them around the neighborhood for the folks who have trouble stretching their budgets. Every morning, all the bags of cereal would be exploded across the street, the macaroni and dry goods would be scattered on sidewalks, canned food thrown against rock walls. Or it’d just all be taken at once, and the machine tipped over. They stopped doing those.
This is pretty much the solution. Just rebuild/restock.
I have a little library that also contained snacks. It was always used by the neighborhood kids. Camera attached too. The first few weeks, books all over the ground or all the snacks taken. And the cameras pointed to a few homeless people.
But after three years (and constant maintenance), I now even see the homeless be respectful and take only the snacks they need.
It doesn’t feel good to turn the other cheek those first few times, trust me. But now it’s a part of the neighborhood and other neighbors even come and add snacks.
That’s a really good story, instructive on how building social fabric takes time and patience
Little free libraries are awesome. I love putting stuff in there and seeing it’s been taken & replaced. I put a lot of zine type stuff in them. The thought of people destroying them just for giggles or because they personally oppose them is sickening. It’s free books and food! You have to be a monster to oppose that.
I mean, my mom found a Golden Book version of Little Black Sambo which featured black face and racist illustrations and whatnot. She took it but left it up to me but even that I didn’t really want to burn it for the reason you said.
Buuuut it did disappear from our place at some point and I don’t know who may have thrown it out. But like, I get it in this case.
When you are shit is easier to cope if everything around you is also shit than making an effort to be less shit.
Conservativism in a nutshell.
I’m so disappointed in people. It’s more than a few bad apples that spoil a bunch.
There’s like a dozen of the little free libraries within a half mile of my house and I love it
Same. I moved across the country and there’s a so, so many where I live.
My city has a bunch of those free food boxes scattered around and I’ve never seen the vandalism like you’re talking about. I wonder if there’s a difference in environment that could be causing that. I bet if the churches kept stocking them and not giving up eventually the vandalism would stop just like it did with the little free libraries
Little Free Libraries were actual grassroots things, this is obviously a corporation trying to squeeze into a new market by offering the first one free (because the city is paying for it).
If I’m reading the side of this thing correctly, it requires an app to get the ball out which means using it opens someone up for potential legal/money issues if they get blamed for using the balls. It looks like a trap to me, and I’m not someone who already had to deal with stuff like being blamed for damage to those rental scooters or other app tracked things.
This is Canadian Tire Jumpstart so it’s likely operated by a charity foundation run by a major hardware retailer. The app system seems kind of stupid, but I don’t believe at first glance the aim was to profit out of this scheme.
Always disappointed, never surprised.