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About
A Community of Generosity
Twoshirts is a community of people who freely give and receive all kinds of different things. By searching through the Items listings you can find a variety of items that people just like you are generously giving away.
Why Participate? Generosity Overcomes Poverty
Twoshirts is an attempt to create a community of generosity that will be a transforming presence in society. Many of us have more stuff than we possibly need, while people living right in our own towns go without. Practicing generosity is a way of rejecting the consumer-oriented lifestyle that traps so many in cycles of greed, hoarding, and debt.
Beyond Free Stuff: Transforming Our Communities
By participating in Twoshirts we can begin to break the cycle of material greed in ourselves and our communities. Cultivating the practice of generosity frees us from the consumer trap, teaches us to see the world differently, and opens up a horizon of new possibilities.
Why "Twoshirts"?
Over two-thousand years ago John the Baptist agonized over the needs of the poor and flatly stated that poverty existed partly because people neglected the practice of generosity. Naturally, his audience didn't like hearing that:
"What should we do then?" The crowd asked. John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." (Luke 3:10-11)
Our Mission & Values
Our mission is to empower grass-roots efforts to connect those who have plenty with those who have needs for the purpose of creating equality. By sharing our resources with each other, and by forming local groups committed to activism and outreach, we will help meet each others needs in order to live a better life, in a better community.
We are driven by a passion for three values:
Equality:
Our goal is to promote a more just and equitable community by generously giving to those who have needs, and by freely receiving from others who can meet our needs.
Relationships:
Market-driven communities create isolation and greed because cash frees us from the gratitude and indebtedness inherent in gift-giving. We believe this kind of relational detachment is the truest form of bankruptcy. Therefore, we aim to foster relationships of grace and gratitude by practicing direct, person-to-person giving.
Participation
The real problem is that our concept of poverty is a destructive lie. Nobody is actually completely impoverished; nobody as a person has nothing to offer. When we treat those with little money and material possessions as though they have nothing we exclude them from humanity and debilitate their role in the community. Rather, we believe everybody has something to give.
Blog - see all 65
What is Poverty? Part 3 2 days ago
Check out this short video produced by the Toronto Star newspaper, asking school children the question, "What is poverty and what should be done about it?" I thought it would add an interesting perspective to the question we've been asking
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My Music
Comments - see all 3
Love the mission! Thanks for the request. We are so glad you can be a part of The Love Alliance. Let us know if you ever want to get more involved and we can send you over some ways that you can.
posted Apr 9
Great idea! Bless you in your work. Come see our project we're starting up in Portland.
posted Apr 6
Balm says:
Be sure to visit the blog too:
posted Apr 11