We at Free Change believe that every one of us has the power to change our world. We recognize that before we can change the world, we must transform communities—and in order to accomplish this, people must begin to care about themselves and the people around them.

It is evident that every individual plays an important role within their community, that every person is valuable and contributes to its state. It is important to remember that in order for it to succeed, we must band together and work to help improve every individual’s life. We can no longer afford to ignore those who need us most.

Since 2005, Free Change has run Free Stores in Detroit, Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Romulus, Michigan. Free Stores are events in which food, household necessities, and services are made available to visitors at no cost. Everything that is available at the Free Store is donated and the operation is facilitated by volunteers.

After having set up Free Stores on a weekly and monthly basis around Metro Detroit for four years, our goal is to obtain a building so that we can start running our Free Store program on a more frequent basis, be a steady resource to our targeted community, and expand operations. As the community utilizes the Free Store resource, we plan on developing other programs around the needs and talents of the community, ultimately developing our organization into a cooperative so that everyone who benefits from the Free Store or Free Change programs would give back by donating time or talents so that our organization can expand and reflect the community.

In order to make the Free Store events successful we ask that the following rules are respected so that we can continue to use this facility and share things with those who need them.