Ex-student  

In March, 2004. jdas_one@sbcglobal.net writes: I was pumping my gas the other day and what do Ii see out of the corner of my eye? A Gaia clothes donation bin. it is placed in the gas station on the corner on Park Street and Otis Drive, Alameda California. I haven't seen another one around yet but I bet if there's one there's plenty more around. I will keep an eye out for these and post when I locate a new one.

I am an ex student of CCTG (Campus California Teachers Group) and I had the worst experience of my life while I was there (and I've been homeless). I have many stories to tell about my time there and I have many friends who also attended the school but quit when they found out the real truth about the place.

  Bins in Chicago, Sacramento, SF  

In December 2006, Sean wrote: I don't like the GAIA bins in my neighborhood. Do you know of anyone who's stood up in Chicago, Sacramento, or San Francisco to get them removed? Or do you have any articles of sucess stories where bins were removed? Thanks -- Sean

  Offer of help  

To Whom It May Concern,

I'd like to inform you that the green boxes for clothing donations have proliferated all over the streets of Chicago. Under the heading of "The Gaia-Movement Trust Living Earth Green World Action", it seems to be the same scheme as that of "Green World Recycling Ltd" in Britain. I was glad to see some good information regarding the scheme in Britain from the tvindalert site but would hope to see some pages shedding light on what is going on here in Chicago as well. Thank you and let me know if you have any questions!

  In the store in Chicago  

I chatted for a few minutes with the very sad, depressed-looking, wasp-ish woman who told me she ran the Clark Street store, though she was not very forthcoming otherwise. I asked her questions based on information in a photocopied brochure they have available. She told me in very general terms that this was an ecologically concerned organization based in Switzerland, that they had reserves of land all over the world they were trying to preserve (I'd asked her if the group was like The Nature Conservancy, an international group that purchases pristine wilderness on a contract to hold it for posterity), she said they were working to save the rainforest, but when I pressed, "The rainforest in Brazil?," she smiled politely and genuinely and said kindly that she didn't really know, that she just ran the store and didn't have a lot of information.

She mentioned that they were going to open a store in Madison, Wisconsin, soon (Madison is home of University of Wisconsin, great place to recruit lots of innocent, idealistic students with lots of $$ to spend on "adventure travel"). She mentioned that they have drop-boxes at 7-Eleven convenience stores and in gas-station parking lots.

The used clothing prices at the store were pretty well outrageous for used clothes!!! While it is in Chicago, and I'd expect they'd be higher than I'm used to in other places, I don't know how they sell anything! 

There was a sign on the door of the store that they hold a youth drop-in night, I think Fridays, with an HIV-AIDs discussion group. This is a neighborhood with a large number of runaway kids. De Paul University is very close by, and Loyola is not far, great places to recruit.

  About Chicago  

Gaia in Chicago only has one store, now, the one at 1318 N. Milwaukee Avenue in the Wicker Park/Bucktown neighborhood. The neighborhood is sort of a mixed bag of artists (lots of artists), professionals who work "downtown," and "working-poor" Polish and Latino families -- sort of a similar area to the one in Atlanta where Garson & Shaw's office is -- once blighted, now gentrifying.. This is a little shopping destination in the city for gallery hoppers, espresso bar-goers, and thrift store/antique/store-shoppers. Apparently Gaia's closed the store on Clark Street (probably the rent was too expensive). The Gaia website says they have a warehouse on the South Side. They say it's on Green Street near 87th and Halsted Street. According to the City of Chicago's website map, Green Street ends at 85th Street going southbound, so it's impossible to get to their warehouse from 87th, OR Halsted, unless you go up to 85th (but 87th may be the more recognized street name; Halsted certainly is), so don't know if they're using a little diversionary tactic, or just indicating generally where they are. This is in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago, which is mostly poor, 99% African American... I lived in Auburn Gresham for a couple of months during an urban semester in Chicago in 1973, at 79th Street and South Wolcott, about 15 blocks west and 7 blocks north of where this warehouse is... I remember that the area east of Ashland Avenue (Halsted is at least 10 blocks east), got more and more desperate and rough, the farther east you went, and (though I would hope I'm wrong) I haven't heard anything to make me think it's gotten any better in the past 30 years. Hard to know if this is "warehouse-y" territory, or if they just have a storefront or some other kind of big abandoned building (a church?) -- I know most of Auburn Gresham is residential on the side streets and storefronts on the main streets. I'm gonna guess Gaia got their property
there for a song, and are feeling pious and big about themselves for using the people in the neighborhood to work in there without paying them much of anything. This would also be a place that wouldn't be checked out too much, say, if there was an exchange between U'S Again's collections and Gaia's taking place there. Clever set-up, once again.

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