Spring cleaning means finding a lotta stuff you don’t need, but as these recessionary times have reminded us, throwing perfectly useful items away is absurd. Three swaps this weekend offer the opportunity to pass along unwanted items. The Great Shoe-In collects gently worn athletic shoes (tied together, please) to be distributed to local shelters, Third World countries and, in the case of irreparable shoes, ground up into bouncy playground surfaces. Drop shoes off on April 25 and 26 at Santa Rosa High School, Coddingtown Mall or the Shomrei Torah at 2600 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. The Plus-Size Clothing Swap offers women with larger waistlines the ability to shed old duds and don new gently-worn new-to-you clothes (with all donations helping to provide services to the local womens’ shelter the Living Room) on Saturday, April 25, at Making it Big, 525 Portal St., Cotati, from 11am-5pm. And in Petaluma, the anything-goes Free Sale is a community garage sale without the little neon circular price tags sponsored by activist youth group Impact! Bring just about anything and leave with just about anything, with free food and music, on Sunday, April 26, at 1251 Marian Way, Petaluma. 11am-5pm.
Gabe Meline
