On April 12, 2011, we started our journey of receiving free Craigslist items in the Green Bay area. We saw a listing for free childrens' items, and thought it was worth looking into. The seller was offering several different free items, but it was the photocopied children's poems and stories that caught our attention. We emailed the seller asking if they still had the item and if they'd be willing to let us have it. Our first email went something like this:
Hi, has anyone posted interest in your stack of photocopied poems and stories? My best friend and I have just decided to collect as many fun awesome eccentric free things as possible off of Craigslist because we have an empty new tiled room to fill up. We are looking for something fun to do this summer, and photocopied poems and stories sound like an adventure waiting to happen. We’re not sure what the adventure is, but we will find out. Respond to this email or text xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Happy Trails!
Rachel & Kellen
Surprisingly enough, a woman named Melissa responded who didn't think we were completely crazy! She lives in East De Pere, so I drove out there on April 12 around 5:30PM. I park my car and see a woman and two children doing regular spring yard work. The woman is relatively young, I would guess around mid-thirties, and very pretty as well. She had a sparkling smile and a great laugh.
Melissa explained that she used to home-school her children, which is how she came to have the packet of poems and stories. I told her Kellen and I are educators of sorts, which isn't far from the truth, and she instantly wanted to know why we came to get the poems and stories. I told her what we had decided to do after sending her the initial email.
Kellen and I came up with a goal for the next 6 months. We were going to pick up as many free Craigslist items in the Green Bay area as possible and write a blog and possibly a book about the items we receive and the people we meet in doing so. She seemed quite impressed, or at least pretended to be. She wished us luck in our endeavor and we were off.
I didn't open the manila envelope until Kellen came to my apartment that evening so we could check out our spoils together. We spent a good thirty minutes looking through our new-found poems and stories, reading them aloud, and laughing at the funny lines and pictures. It was a great first item--now to find more!
If you see any good Green Bay area free item listings on Craigslist, please email them to us! We would love your help if you're willing to give it! Also--check out or vlog (video blog!) on Youtube!
Happy Trails!
Rachel
