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What if What We Already Have is Enough to Begin?
What if What We Already Have is Enough to Begin?
Lebanon has been carrying crisis after crisis for years.
Families are under financial pressure. Refugees and other vulnerable communities continue to face uncertainty. Older people can become increasingly isolated. Usable goods are discarded while families struggle to afford necessities. At the same time, Lebanon is filled with people who have something valuable to contribute—whether that is an item, a skill, a meal, a few hours of time, or knowledge that has been passed down through generations.
We began asking what might happen if those things could be connected.
Not simply by giving something away, but by creating a system where people can contribute, participate, receive, learn, and connect.
That is where The Salt & Grain Exchange began.
Introducing The Salt & Grain Exchange
Introducing The Salt & Grain Exchange
Rather than creating another system where an organization purchases goods and distributes them to people in need, we wanted to explore whether existing resources within the community could be put back into circulation.
The Exchange operates through points rather than money. People can contribute usable items and receive points, which they can then use to choose what they need from the Exchange. People can also contribute through their time, skills, and services.
The result is a system where people are not simply recipients of assistance. They can participate in it.
Someone may donate furniture when they no longer need it and later use their points for something their family needs. Someone with very little financially may still have useful skills or items to contribute. And someone who has accumulated points can choose to use them to help another person.
The Pilot
The Pilot
The Salt & Grain Exchange began as a small-scale pilot so we could see how the model worked in practice.
For approximately 12 months, the Exchange operated from a 200 m² facility. The pilot allowed us to test the system, listen to participants, identify limitations, and understand what would be needed to expand it.
What emerged was more than simply a successful exchange of goods. People began bringing items specifically because they knew they could help someone else. Customers helped neighbors and other families. Businesses and organizations contributed surplus goods. Items that might otherwise have been discarded became useful resources for people who needed them.
10,000
10,000
Items Received per Month
7,000
7,000
Items Received per Month
450
450
Households Registered
4,000
4,000
People Reached, Approximately
What It Looked Like →
What It Looked Like →
A family who had lost their home during a military escalation was able to use their points to obtain a bed and closet after their son had been sleeping on an old, broken cot.
One customer traveling about an hour and a half by bus each month, collecting items from her neighbors and using the Exchange to find things they needed.
A pregnant couple looking for baby clothes, a stroller, and a bed had their needs added to the Exchange’s Needs Wall. By the time that baby arrived, they had received everything they needed to welcome their baby girl home.
The Next Stage
The Next Stage
The next stage of The Salt & Grain Exchange is being developed as a larger, multi-purpose space built around the same underlying system of exchange and participation.
The Store
The Store
The Store will continue the original Exchange model on a larger scale, providing clothing, furniture, appliances, household goods, children’s items, and other usable resources through the points system.
The Gym
The Gym
The Gym will provide community-based classes and a place, particularly for men, to build relationships, encourage one another, and develop a sense of brotherhood while carrying the responsibilities of family, work, and life together.
The Cafe
The Cafe
The Café will provide a place to gather as well as ready-made meals for community members. Through relationships with farmers, vendors, shops, and food businesses, suitable surplus food can be redirected toward meals and food support rather than becoming waste.
The Community
The Community
The wider space will create opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, religions, and circumstances to meet and participate. Workshops, activities, book clubs, games, and other gatherings can give people reasons to come together beyond simply receiving a service.
The goal is not to create four separate programs operating under one roof. It is to create a place where they strengthen one another.
A person may come for the Exchange and stay for a workshop. Food that might have been wasted can become a community meal. A senior may volunteer and teach a skill to someone younger. Someone may use the gym and develop relationships with others who can support them. A donated item can meet a family’s need while the points generated from it help someone else.
The Exchange began with a simple question about resources and affordability. The pilot showed that the answer could also involve waste, food, unemployment, skills, volunteering, dignity, relationships, and community.
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