Sunnyside Swap Shop Co-op is a growing and evolving grass roots effort to “do it differently” for a healthy planet and healthy community. We provide ways to reduce, reuse and recycle household goods for simpler, more affordable living while placing a lighter footprint on the planet.
The Co-op runs annual swap events and develops ongoing cooperatives that allow sharing and caring between neighbors in the Sunnyside neighborhood.
The first ongoing cooperative we have established is called The Sunnyside Family Swap Shop and Play Space. It opened as an indoor play space in October 2007 in a portion of Sunnyside United Methodist at the corner of SE Yamhill and SE 35th, expanded last July to include an outdoor play area and in the fall to include several sessions of gym time in the large gym space recently renovated above the main indoor play area.
The Swap Shop provides an inviting place for children 10 and under to play, a year-round place for member families to exchange useful goods (clothing, toys, books, art supplies, baby equipment, etc.) and a place for parents to network with and support each other. Eighty five founding families joined this cooperative in the fall of 2007. Membership doubled in the first year to 160 families this past fall. There is open enrollment for families to join at the start of each quarter in the months of January, April, July, and October until the member capacity of 200 active member families is met.
The Swap Shop Co-op also hosts two swapping events each year open to all who wish to participate: a Back to School Exchange in the Fall and the Useful Goods Exchange in the Spring. Both are held at Sunnyside Environmental School in the Sunnyside Neighborhood.
To help both the Swap Shop and other organizations that provide new life for used clothing, the Sunnyside Swap Shop Co-op organizes the Clothes with Heart Clothing Circuit the second Thursday of each month, collecting clothing at Sunnyside Environmental School and at Sunnyside United Methodist Church, then sorting and sharing the clothing with a variety of organizations including the Sunnyside Swap Shop Co-op, the meal and shelter programs at Sunnyside United Methodist Church, the Portland Public Schools Clothing Center, Letty Owens home for mothers of young children recovering from addiction and Dress for Success.
The Sunnyside Swap Shop Co-op is proud to support local artists as paid entertainers at regular Swap Shop events and to highlight local artists in special gallery showings at our space.
