Grove Moms Build Community While Cutting Consumption

In Coconut Grove, sustainability doesn’t always look like policy or a protest. Sometimes it’s giving away baby formula or choosing a pre-owned Halloween costume instead of shopping for a new one.

Need a stroller, a bag of toys, or a last-minute Christmas gift? 

For a thriving group of Coconut Grove moms, the best place to look has become a neighborhood group chat that was launched last year with just one rule: give, don’t sell.

The Grove Give Group is a community-led group chat on WhatsApp where hundreds of people give away stuff for free in an effort to cut costs for other families and keep consumption and waste low. 

The idea is simple: items like baby strollers that outlast one family’s need can have a second, third, or even a fourth life before they are thrown away. Instead of everyone buying everything, all the time, families can recycle what is already in the community.

In a world that promotes consumption, especially at this time of year, the group chat offers an environmentally-friendly alternative. 

The Grove Give Group began with one parent’s realization that childhood moves faster than the stuff you buy for it. 

Alice Sarfati, the founder of the group chat, became a mother in 2021. As a young mom, the Center Grove resident watched her daughter grow out of her clothes, toys, and accessories almost as soon as she bought them. 

“She would wear a beautiful outfit once, and then suddenly it didn’t fit,” Sarfati said. “Becoming a mom in 2021 took my consciousness to a whole other level, it was eco-exponential.”

Sarfati said she embraced the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ mantra in her youth, only to learn later that recycling was not as simple or effective, as she once believed.  

She tried to make everyday decisions that could help the environment, like consuming less and sharing more, to create less waste. 

And that’s when the idea came to her: If she didn’t know of anyone with an immediate need for something she had to share, she decided she could offer it to neighbors through a group chat. 

Sarfati initially approached friends and other parents in her community with the idea. By February 2024, the group chat had started with 10 or so neighbors and friends. 

To get things started, Sarfati offered a few items she no longer needed and others followed. Word spread, and the group chat began to grow, entirely through word of mouth, to its current size – 300 plus members and counting.

Today, 22 months later, the chat continues to operate with a straightforward honor system: items must be given away, not sold or – once exchanged – resold.

The items shared most commonly are items used in daily life: maternity clothes, car seats, diapers, lawn chairs, party supplies, Halloween costumes, and oddly specific needs that pop up in family life. 

A group member sends a photo of an item with a short description. Others who are interested reply “me, please” and the item is claimed. Then the giver and receiver coordinate how to make the exchange.

A typical conversation looks like this: 

One parent texts “Hello, does anyone have winter clothing (a thick jacket) for a baby aged three to six months?” Another parent replies “Hi! I have a baby North Face. I think it’s 6-12 months if you need it.” The response is simple, “Thank you 🙏.” 

Unlike other online marketplaces, this group chat is intentionally local, making it easy to quickly pick up and drop off items. 

The local focus has had another benefit as well, said Pamela Blacutt Lochridge, a South Grove resident who first told the Spotlight about the Grove Give Group. The group chat has brought people together and turned neighbors into friends, she said.

“It’s a community,” Blacutt Lochridge said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing, especially in light of the commercial (holiday) that Christmas has become.”

Sarfati agrees. Over time, she began to see the chat as “more than a place to share items” and more like “a real community of neighbors,” she said.

“I got a warm and fuzzy feeling when people started asking if anyone could lend something they needed, and immediately, several people jumped to help,” Sarfati said.

Sarfati said she has received private messages from members thanking her for creating a space that eases unexpected costs for parents, keeping usable items in circulation, and normalizes asking for help. 

The group also has had an impact beyond everyday sharing. 

Earlier this year, when the federal government closed and the SNAP food assistance program was paused, members organized a food drive for affected families and coordinated the effort through the group chat.

As positive – even inspiring – as all this sounds, however, the Grove group still operates in the real world, where human nature can undercut the best of intentions. 

Since the beginning, the group has run on goodwill and trust, which makes it valuable but also vulnerable when people push boundaries.

In a few instances, members have taken items offered for free on the chat and then offered them for sale on other platforms, like Facebook Marketplace. In those instances, group administrators have had to step in to enforce the rules.

But most members act in good faith, Sarfati said, and the group has stayed aligned with its mission, with only “a couple of small hiccups.” 

When misunderstandings happen, Sarfati said she refocuses members on kindness, reuse, and support, especially for families navigating the high costs of childcare and growing kids.