Long Beach Has That Good Sh!t: Community Facebook Group Inspires Acts of Kindness

Last May, Dana Cherry was in the bathtub—the setting for many of her best ideas—when it occurred to her to create a Facebook page where she could exchange gently used items with a group of friends. As “the opposite of a hoarder,” Cherry, who has lived in Long Beach for over two decades, was interested in finding new homes for the unwanted stuff she had lying around, and in helping others do the same. In the spirit of good humor, she named the page “Good Shit Long Beach!!! A Place for Rehoused Items” (GSLB).

Soon, Cherry’s friends asked if they could invite others to join the group, and she affirmed. Then those friends turned around and invited other friends who then invited even more friends. Long story short, within seven months, membership on the page jumped to almost 13,000 members. “And if I accepted everyone who tried to be in there, we’d be at 30,000 already,” Cherry says.

The idea was for the page to be a private place for people to share items they couldn’t bear to toss but had no interest in utilizing anymore, AKA the “good shit.” Cherry had no idea how the page would evolve from her original idea or how quickly it would grow.

Since it began as a tight-knit, eco-friendly network within the Long Beach community, GSLB has morphed into a uniquely-defined community of its own, with members cheekily referring to each other as “Shitters” while also giving to each other in a wide variety of meaningful ways. 

In a time when many of us feel increasingly isolated and our mental health is teetering on the edge, GSLB has become a friendly, dependable place to go for heartwarming stories, silly puns, and fellowship, AKA that intangible “good shit.” 

Cherry takes a selfie, in a holiday sweater with the words “Get Lit” and a menorah, to thank a “Shitter” that made her “Hanukkah dream a reality!” Photo courtesy of Good Shit Long Beach Facebook page.

For several months, Cherry managed it all by herself despite having a time-consuming full time job as a social worker running the mental health department for the public defender’s office. She chalks up handling the workload to her multitasking skills. 

As a social worker and a therapist, Cherry is very sensitive to the stories from Shitters who need help. Though, when she senses they want to go in depth regarding problems with others, she must ask them to leave the details out. 

“I’m very mindful because I never want there to be a conflict. The reality is, in my real life, I might be representing the alleged perpetrator of the crime, so I’m very clear on boundaries,” she said. 

In recent months, another administrator and four moderators have been added to help ease her workload. 

There is a strict rule against selling things, among other mandates that are in place to keep up a spirit of positivity and giving. 

“The page is censored basically. There’s no complaining allowed. There’s no negativity allowed. All that gets deleted, and people know,” Cherry stresses.

So, here’s how it all works. Those seeking certain items are instructed to use the acronym “ISO” at the beginning of the post, which signifies that one is “in search of” a particular item. Members who have something to give away will post a description along with a photo or two. Once the item is claimed, they are instructed to delete the post. 

Useful appliances like Instant Pots, a home water cooler, and more have been offered on the page. Photo courtesy of GSLB.

Givers are able to determine how they want to go about giving their items away. Some determine it to be first come, first served, while others note “giver’s choice” and ask for a compelling reason. Others throw everyone who comments “interested” into a raffle and draw a name to determine the winner. Most result in a contactless pick-up from a porch or stoop. 

Sometimes the ISO is for  “peace of mind” or “good dad jokes.” Sometimes the post is simply gratitude for something they received, or for the group in general, or to tell a funny story related to the page name.

To the delight of her fellow Shitters, one member recounted how her husband saw a woman taking a bag from his porch and called out, “You must be from that shitty group!” She looked at him horrified and scurried off. (Turns out she was from a different “buy nothing” group and had no idea the pun he was trying to make. Oops!) This prompted a litany of similar stories to be shared in the comments.

The logo was designed by Tanya Mander Cummings, an old neighbor of Cherry’s that she had previously lost touch with until she was invited to join GSLB by someone else. Photo courtesy of GSLB.

In addition to the humor, there is palpable excitement sprinkled throughout the page by way of hundreds of  gratitude posts. There are joyful updates on children, who had been bummed out by the pandemic’s effects on birthdays and other celebratory milestones, floored by receiving dozens of cards from strangers and even drive-by parades. Other times cries of hunger have been met with dozens of meals. 

Celine Malanum, a member since September, says some of her favorite things to witness have been “smiling kids holding that one special thing they never thought they’d get, cancer patients with donated socks or handmade blankets, an art project someone completed with donated items, a smiling dog in a goofy new sweater, someone’s loved one in a ‘new-to-them’ wheelchair, and meals prepared with love.”

Most of Malanum’s immediate family have also experienced the GSLB magic in some way. Her middle child uses a desk gifted to her for virtual learning every day. Her oldest daughter has been successfully and enthusiastically caring for a plant she received through GSLB. Even their foster dog was given dozens of his favorite chew toys after Celine put out the call on the page. 

And then her elderly parents, who live with her, had a simple request of their own: an old school radio to listen to music. 

“They didn’t want anything fancy or new-fangled,” she says. “Someone gifted me an early 90s boombox with maybe six buttons total that works like a dream. My mom told me to tell the gifter, ‘You filled my home with music again. It brings life back in.’” 

Tomisin Oluwole
Ode to Pink II, 2020
Acrylic and marker on paper
14 x 22 inches

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Celine Malanum says her parents start every day now with their radio playing, which brings her and them joy. Photo courtesy of Malanum.

Along with the gift of music, which now fills the air every morning, the willingness of a stranger helping them “free and clear” without expecting anything in return, pulled at her mother’s heartstrings. Celine thinks she knows why it affected her so deeply: “I honestly believe it reminded her of what it was like to live in a very tight-knit Filipino community in Carson when she had just immigrated here in the ‘70s, folks all within a few block radius who just straight up PROVIDED for each other,” Malanum wrote to FORTHE via email.

And it likely doesn’t stop at fond memories; the connections to past communities also serves to remind us what is possible. For Malanum’s mom, she says it likely goes “even further back, to living in the Philippines where neighbors were family. Communal sharing was a way of life, it was a method of survival, and it was part of the culture. If you need, you barely have to ask. If you are able, you make food for more mouths than lived under your roof every meal, every day. While many of us are able to create those connections in our neighborhoods, what GSLB has done and continues to do is extend that community to all of Long Beach.”

Shitters often go above and beyond trying to give some of the magic they have experienced on the page to others. Photo courtesy of GSLB.

The page serves as a reminder that generous do-gooders still exist, countering the ubiquitous doom and gloom predictions for a dystopian future of isolation, greed, and dehumanization. The goodwill in the people who participate is clear, their acts of kindness a good kind of contagious.

In an emotional post, a teacher referring to himself as a “humble servant” expresses his gratitude for the school and holiday items gifted to his class, a group of 28 “deserving” students in need of resources. Decked out in a festive hat and oversized Christmas light necklace, he starts off smiling but quickly gets choked up acknowledging the people who worked with his schedule to fulfill the needs of his kids while he is also dealing with the stress of his mother being in the hospital. 

With so much good energy being directed her way, Malanum, as many others on the page have felt compelled to do, decided she wanted to do something more than just rehouse her old stuff. 

“Recently so many of my friends, family, neighbors, and online community folks are experiencing so many losses – so many of those from COVID, I was feeling all that grief,” she said. “My big brother, Mel, passed a couple of years ago and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him, and this season only intensifies the grief I know I’ll carry my whole life.” 

Since she was in a position to give back, she created a “Grief Care Package” that included a soothing tea blend, decadent chocolates, bath bombs for a spa treatment, and a book called “Healing Through Loss,” all were sources of comfort for her when she was first reeling from her brother’s death.

Celine Malanum planned to give one grief care package to someone in the GSLB group and ended up giving out five. Photo courtesy of GSLB.

The mother of three had not asked anyone to share their private stories to win her special gift, only for them to indicate that they would like it. But many felt compelled to do so. The tears that fell as Malanum thoughtfully read each testimonial of pain and grief convinced her that she needed to work out a way to afford more than she originally thought she could. She moved some things around in her personal finances and dug up some gift cards collecting dust in order to create more care packages.

“It is ‘stuff,’ but it’s also so much more than ‘stuff.’ It’s connecting with folks, it’s feeling like you’re looked out for, and that you have something to offer to care for others.”

Cherry was in the tub again one day this past November when it occurred to her that she should organize the sponsoring of families for the holidays. She couldn’t do it alone, but she knew with her network that she could coordinate getting it done. With the help of the people she enlisted and a ton of volunteers, 133 families were sponsored for the holidays with gifts, food, and clothes while 150 seniors were given stockings filled with presents. Cherry updated the group on the numbers and wrote, “That’s what community does! That’s what GOOD SHIT really is!”

Heather Caswell originally intended to give out 10 Christmas trees but ended up providing one for 40 different families. Photo courtesy of GSLB.

Member Heather Caswell decided she could offer some free holiday cheer too, and created a Christmas tree lot in front of her house. Forty families walked away with their own tree after a festive experience complete with refreshments and free decorations.

Afterwards, the page was littered with exuberant gratitude posts by the receivers exclaiming how Caswell  had gone above and beyond to make picking up the tree a joyful experience. Vanessa Robbins, a single mother who has been unemployed since March, thought a tree was out of the question this year until she saw Caswell’s post.

“This woman made a makeshift lot in her front yard with tables of ornaments and lights to pick out, hot chocolate and cookies for the kids! I was crying, I was so touched and thankful,” said Robbins.

Vanessa Robbins’ son was “beside himself” when he saw their new Christmas tree. Photo courtesy of Robbins.

Cherry has heard from countless people that the page “literally saved their life.” With a quick scan over the hundreds of posts marked with “#gratitude” on the page, you can start to understand how someone would make such a claim. As a result of the kindness and camaraderie abundant on the page and the connections made, it is not uncommon to see comments like “I have yet to give or receive anything here, but the HUMOR and the KINDNESS make my day, every day.”

The vigilance it takes to keep the page a kind place to visit on the internet is hard to quantify. Celine Malanum, a member since September, says it is important to point out “the moderators are a well-oiled team of women (of course) who truly embody the generous spirit of this group, and work really hard to protect its integrity.”

Cherry and her team plan to keep the goodwill flowing by creating directories to help people find resources within the community as well as regularly organizing more giving events through their new webpage. 

Cherry’s social worker background and her spiritual beliefs may help explain the trajectory of the group from lighthearted sharing to large-scale charitable endeavors

“I’m Jewish and I believe in Tikkun Olam, which literally translates to healing the world,” Cherry said. “For me, it’s very much like I don’t have a choice. Our whole religion is based on social justice and doing for others. I’m not even that religious, but that’s the aspect that I take with me and I believe in wholeheartedly.”

For Valentine’s day, Cherry will be putting out the call for Shitters to collect new pairs of shoes for unhoused women and children in Long Beach.

“I think that’s what’s important, doing things throughout the year to help support our community,” she said. “For me, it’s less about this stuff and more about the community that’s been built.”