Future Economy Collective Newsletter
Future Economy Collective, a certified 501c3, is a volunteer-run, non-hierarchical mutual aid, community-building, and organizing collective built by, and for, the New River Valley in southwest Virginia.
About Us
Who we are
Future Economy Collective (FEC) is a grassroots, community-based, all-volunteer-run, certified 501c3 started and based in southwest Virginia’s New River Valley. FEC focuses on mutual aid, community-building, and harm reduction in the NRV. Mutual Aid projects include the 24/7 take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can community free fridge (now in the rear of UKirk Student Ministries) and essential needs supply distributions (behind the North Main Laundromat in Blacksburg on select Laundry Love days). Volunteers are always needed to help with community events and mutual aid efforts. Likewise donations are always needed to maintain operations. We are, and have always been, fully volunteer-run and operating almost entirely on grassroots donations, especially from our monthly supporters!
Our Values
In our experience, the best way to foster liberation is through creating and maintaining connections that allow the struggle against oppression to feel less driven by fear and more out of love for each other. Best stated by Adrienne Maree Brown: “do you understand that your quality of life and your survival are tied to how authentic and generous the connections are between you and the people and place you live with and in? Are you actively practicing generosity and vulnerability in order to make the connections between you and others clear, open, available, durable?”
We firmly believe that community building is the cornerstone to a sustainable future. The intention of this collective is to be a place where we model the world we want to build. We want our culture and structure to reflect our shared goal of liberation for all people. In all our work, we embrace the full humanity of one another through the recognition of our intrinsic rights such as housing, food, healthcare, bodily autonomy, belonging, pleasure, rest, clean drinking water, a healthy ecosystem, and more.
Support Our Work
Donate Items
Some consistently needed and wanted donations include:
items for the community fridge, such as fresh and canned veggies, canned soups, canned beans, frozen and canned meats
Items for our distros including cleaning supplies, paper products like paper towels and toilet paper, laundry detergent, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes
winter clothing like coats, scarves, and blankets
We are not currently accepting other clothing donations! Please do not drop off donations of items not listed here! If you have items that you think may be useful to us, feel free to contact us and ask first. The best place to contact us is over instagram @future_economy_collective or over email at [email protected]
Make a Monetary Donation
Monthly recurring or one-time donations financially support our mission and operations! All donations either support our day-to-day operations or are invested directly back into the community. We are all volunteers so no donations go towards salaries.
One-Time and Recurring Donations without Perks
Support us on Zeffy via one-time donations or recurring donations without receiving any perks.
Support us via PayPal @fecollective or [email protected] for one-time donations or recurring donations without receiving any perks. Paypal is a proprietary platform and does not take a cut out of your donation aside from processing fees.
Recurring Donations with Perks
Support us on Patreon if you want to support us with recurring donations and receive perks for different donation tiers. Patreon is a proprietary platform and takes a cut out of your donation, so less money funds our mission.
Community Free Fridge and Pantry
The community free fridge & pantry are the core of our mutual aid efforts. Volunteers and community members clean and stock the fridge & pantry. The fridge & pantry also receive donations from some local organizations and small businesses, such as the Agape Center, Our Daily Bread, and the Farmers’ Market Share the Spare Program.
305 Washington St SW, Blacksburg, VA, 24060
Parking access is located at the intersection of Clay St and Harrell St, through the parking lot. The most accessible path to the fridge & pantry is through this parking lot.
Monthly Mutual Aid Distribution
Our monthly distro program addresses the community need for basic essentials, like hygiene products, cleaning products, harm reduction supplies, and more. On the third Sunday of every month, we distribute supplies behind the North Main Laundromat from 2-3pm. During this time, Glade Church also distributes quarters to people through their Laundry Love Program.
Glade Church, community members, and sometimes small businesses, like Abby’s (which allows us use the parking lot for our distros), usually provide additional supplies for the distros.
Volunteer With Us
There are so many different ways to support this mission! If you are interested in volunteering, email us at [email protected].
Some of our current volunteer roles include:
planning events and workshops
distributing food and paper goods at our monthly mutual aid distro on the third Sunday of the month
prepping food with the kitchen crew
supporting the free fridge
collecting food and clothing donations
forming connections with community members and groups
finding and writing grants
Interested in another project? Reach out and let us know!
Contact Us
We are an all-volunteer organization. Sometimes it takes us a few days to return calls, texts, and emails. If you don’t hear back from a volunteer within seven days, please reach out again.
Unencrypted Email: [email protected]
Encrypted, More Secure Email: [email protected]
Call or text: +1(540)200-8028
