What a gift

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Transcript

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This is Awesome News Daily. I'm David Beach, finding stories, sharing stories, having you listen. That's awesome to me. Stories like this one. Jennifer Molsky was sitting in her postage stamp-sized Chicago apartment one afternoon in 2001 when a light bulb went off in her head. All around her were scores of gifts she had received from friends and family over the years, ranging from scarves and faux floral arrangements to countless knickknacks that she had been unable to use. I was stashing stuff in I started to feel guilty about not putting these items to good use, and suddenly I thought to myself, there's got to be a better way. Molsky, who was employed as a social worker at the time, knew there were numerous people in her community who would be thrilled to receive her unused gifts. And for the past 23 years, the 55-year-old Flossmoor, Illinois resident has been doing her part to not only remove the stigma attached to regifting, but also to brighten the lives of others. of isolated, overlooked seniors living in public housing with recycled presents. Molesky's Leave It For Love nonprofit has collected nearly 10,000 unused items, bars of lavender-scented soap, perfume, stuffed animals, makeup, and more, and distributed them throughout the Chicago area. It's a pretty simple program, just me and my husband, but it packs such a big punch, she says. I'll never forget one woman who chose some lipstick and told me she hadn't felt so beautiful in years. It's just amazing how something as simple as a tube of lipstick can lift the spirits of an older person. It all started with a simple flyer Molsky posted on the door of the laundry room at her apartment with a message that read, Do you have unwanted gifts that you're not able to put to use? Why not consider re-gifting them with us at Leave It For Love? Local media picked up on her efforts, and before she knew it, her gift recycling program took off. In recent years, donors have dropped off items at a local brewery near her home. She collects items beginning each December, shortly after the Christmas holiday and continues until a few weeks after Valentine's Day when she says people get all sorts of chocolates, stuffed animals, and little tchotchkes that make perfect gifts for our older adults. A few years into her re-gifting campaign, Molsky realized she was really onto something when a family friend reached out to donate to her cause. A few days later, she drove over the woman's house and collected a box filled with items and admits she was tickled to see that the woman had included a Waterford vase in the box that Molsky had given her months earlier. I got a laugh out of it, she says, because my whole point behind doing this is to put these items to better use, and I know that a senior citizen was soon going to be enjoying that nice little vase. They're just doing it out of the kindness of their heart. That's awesome news. This is Awesome News Daily. I'm David Beach. Thank you so much for listening. Have fun and go find a way to make someone's day maybe just a little tchotchke.