From wide-toothed combs to car seats and from red onions to car parts, there’s not much you can’t not buy in Ulster County.

Gina Bravo of Saugerties, who runs a “chicken rescue,” says Buy Nothing Saugerties has helped her rescue several birds “due to donations of dog houses, chicken coops and fencing from the Buy Nothing group.”

On a recent afternoon, a member of the Saugerties group offered free red onions and zucchini to anyone interested in a post that read, “Anyone wanting red onions and zucchini? I’ve got a ton, I mean a ton! Please just come by, today. … Please come and take some for family and neighbors.”

In an email, Carr Legg, also a member of the Saugerties Facebook group, relayed the outcome of her search for “a foam egg crate mattress pad to add more support to a bed for my senior dog Annie.”

Legg said her cousin saw the post and let her know he had several available. But her cousin had misunderstood what she was asking for. “I went to pick them up and sitting on his kitchen counter are several egg cartons. Not a loss, it gave me a chance to catch up with Aunt Betty,” she wrote.

Another member of the Saugerties group, which has more than 1,000 members, posted recently that he is looking for fencing and Plexiglas so that he can construct housing for an iguana that is rapidly outgrowing its cage.

In early July, Barb Stemke, a member of the Kingston group, posted in search of clippers for the Rondout Community Garden. It wasn’t long before she’d had two offers.

Buy Nothing group members often find things they might otherwise have to purchase. In one recent exchange on the Kingston Facebook group, a request for a toddler car seat was almost immediately met by a member offering her grandchild’s outgrown seat.

Kingston’s Buy Nothing/Sell Nothing Facebook group is run by the Greer family.

Jessica Greer helps her Jon son to keep the site going. She said she’s “always had a passion for helping my community” and the Buy Nothing concept was a perfect fit.

The Kingston group, which began in February 2021, currently has 232 members, Greer said, “It’s been inspiring, and our dream, to help other people in our community.”

Greer said she grew up in a Catholic church community where helping the homeless was an important value.

She said she and Jon aren’t stopping at Buy Nothing.

The pair is also asking on their page for contributions towards a storefront they’re hoping to open on Broadway where their homeless neighbors can obtain clothing and a hot meal, all while doing their laundry free of charge, Jessica said.

Greer said she and Jon began the Buy Nothing group because “I wanted to give back to the community that’s helped me so much through the coronavirus and domestic violence. We wanted to just open this group up and help others.”

Greer, who has five other children under the age of 10, said she encourages them to give back to their neighbors. “I was homeless in Kingston,” Greer said. “I know how hard it is to go from day to day — to find food in garbage cans and dumpsters.”

“The Buy Nothing Project was founded in 2013 with the mission to build community by connecting people through hyperlocal gifting, and reducing our impact on the environment. Our mission has not changed. In fact, we’ve doubled down by investing in our own platform that will allow us (collectively) to realize this mission to its fullest.” according to the Buy Nothing Project website.