Swap shed plans to reopen soon, seeks volunteers

Lincoln Mothers Out Front is looking for volunteers to staff the swap shed, which town officials hope to reopen soon with appropriate public health measures.

Management and oversight of the swap shed will be entirely volunteer-driven, as was the case before it was closed due to the pandemic shortly after the expanded facility opened in January 2020 under DPW supervision. The previous volunteer staff was abruptly fired in October 2019. There had been tensions over people snapping up items for resale or personal charities, and DPW staff “had been called on to de-escalate situations involving conflict between residents and volunteers,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said in a letter the day after the firings.

The swap shed will reopen on May 8 if the volunteer roster is large enough to run it going forward. Those interested in signing up are urged to contact Trish O’Hagan at PMOKiwi@comcast.net.  Senior citizens who are interested in helping staff the swap shed as part of the town’s senior property tax work-off program should contact Council on Aging Director Abigail Butt at butta@lincolntown.org. 

“Whether you can commit to once a week or to once every other month, we are excited to bring everyone together to restore Lincoln’s communal volunteer energy and to keep useful ‘treasures’ out of the trash incinerator,” Higgins and Mothers Out Front said in an April 21 LincolnTalk post.

Officials also hope to replace the defunct Recycling Committee by creating a Zero Waste Committee, perhaps as a separate private organization working in collaboration with the town to promote practices and projects that reduce consumption, encourage reuse, and reduce waste.