KarunaNews Story

The Fred Hampton Free Store in an abandoned Family Dollar store in New Orleans is part free thrift store, over-the-counter pharmacy, punk show venue — and wholly “a radical community center,” said Dan Bingler, who runs it. It’s simply neighbors helping neighbors, says Bingler, a waiter and bartender who founded a mutual-aid organization called the Greater New Orleans Caring Collective. The building owners let him use the space as long as he pays the water, electricity, and trash bills. On Monday evenings, volunteers from other community organizations show up. On nights the store is open, often more than 100 people visit, Bingler said. The clinic at the free store helped Stephen Wiltz, who had been using drugs since he was 10 but was fed up with discrimination from doctors who blamed him for his addiction, get help. At 56, he was in sustained recovery for the first time in his life.