MISSOULA — All week long people in the neighborhoods around the University of Montana have been dropping off their things at This Old Frat House for a pop-up store where everything is free.
For the ninth time since the year 2020, Jenny Nielsen put the store together in an effort to recycle different items ranging from clothes to furniture — and anything else in between — for people who need or want the stuff.
Nielsen says it was during the Pandemic when the idea to host the Pop-Up Free Store in the yard of the old frat house came to them.
“People were really short on money. I mean you couldn’t do certain jobs — like everybody was suffering and they couldn’t actually get that direct need, so what we did is (in the snow) we held our first Pop-Up-Free store.”
Over the years the want and need for this Pop-Up Free Store has grown for members of the nearby community.
The event is held twice a year and the residents and students in the surrounding area are appreciative of the store.
“I’m very grateful that they do it cause a lot of the college students here. They’re either paying for college themselves — so like not a lot of people have money for like clothes or like new sheets or like just cups and stuff. And I’m very grateful to the people who did this because I don’t have a lot of money for stuff for my dorm.”
The Next Pop-Up Free Store will be held in spring.
