Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelley Rytlewski.
Hi Kelley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
This idea began in trash rooms and next to dumpsters in my old apartment building. I saw so many reusable items discarded and hastily tossed during move-outs. I started salvaging items individually and looking up local charities that accepted those items as in-kind donations. I would drive all over town to deliver a blender, lamp, or nightstand. Eventually, I built a spreadsheet and became the person that friends and neighbors would turn to whenever they wondered, “Where should I donate a desk? A dog crate? dishes?” If I didn’t know the answer, I would research until I found it. I realized that we, as an Austin community, are rich in excess items and generous in spirit, but information on where to donate our unwanted items could be better. I knew it would take a little technology and a lot of heart to solve this problem. I built heartening.org to improve how we give unwanted items to local causes that desperately want them. Today, anyone in Austin can search for an item they want to give away and instantly find great causes around town that would love to have their item.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
I knew when starting this that it would be a labor of love of tedious, toiling love. But, I felt compelled to start down this road nonetheless, wondering where it would lead. I started Heartening as a passion project, researching and coding away during quarantine, as an artistic expression of love for my community written in code. This was a tool the world needed, and the more I poured into it, the more it would grow. But, during the pandemic, one by one, charities shut down their donation centers and stopped taking items from the public. I crossed off donation spots one by one, and my project kept shrinking and shrinking.
Over the next year, I slowly regrew the data as donation centers re-opened. Then, another road bump and a hurricane. My day job was filled with immense stress during unprecedented public events. I was in the Office of the CEO at Twitter. I worked in the eye of the storm, serving as Director of Strategy & Operations in Central Operations. This meant I was the right hand to the former VP of Operations, Chief of Staff to the CEO, Parag Agrawal. My peers jokingly described my former role as “chief of staff to the chief of staff.” Despite top performance marks and a promotion weeks before the takeover, I was unceremoniously laid off and utterly devastated. I let that job take my heart. I wore pajamas for a week, ate ice cream, and cried. My well was empty, my ego bruised, and my perspective was lost. One day, I heard my doorbell ring. Still in my pitiful pajamas at 3 pm with unbrushed hair, I reluctantly answered it. It was an elderly neighbor dropping off a bag of men’s clothing for donations because he knew about my project. The next day, I changed into real clothes and dropped off the donations at Austin Baptist Chapel Angel House Soup Kitchen; then I dove into full-time work building Heartening.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Heartening is on a mission to show every unwanted item exactly where it is wanted and to get it there, whether it is a bookshelf, a binder, a bike, a baby stroller, a textbook, a kayak, a printer, a mattress, a pair of jeans. Heartening knows a great local cause in Austin that wants to reuse your things. Heartening tracks the needed items at over 130 local Austin charities and community causes. Go to heartening.org right now and type in anything you want to get rid of. You’ll see exactly where it is wanted. We will do it if you are too busy to take it there. We offer a free porch pick-up service in many zip codes across Austin. So the next moment, when you are about to toss out an item you know could be reused, let it do something Heartening instead.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some changes you expect to see over the next five to ten years?
This ‘industry’ is the collective size of our hearts — giving, sharing, reusing, donating, and sustaining our space, planet, and each other. For our survival, we must make it grow. We have a duty to each item we take to use, care for, and then pass it along to its following purpose. The City of Austin was a goal to be zero-waste by 2040. That means our city is committed to reducing the amount of trash sent to landfills by 90% by 2040. At the end of the fiscal year 2021, the diversion rate was only 41.96% [source: https://www.austintexas.gov/zerowaste]. We, as a community, are behind on progress toward this goal. As Austin neighbors, we need to see the mission of sustainability as a mission of the community. Will we come together? Will we pause before tossing items away? Will we regift our items with love where they are needed most? Will we lift those who need our generosity or throw that kindness away? In giving our unwanted items where they are wanted, we tell our neighbors, “You are worthy, and you are wanted.”
Pricing:
- Free pick-ups for donations over $100 in many zip codes in Austin: 78701, 78702, 78703, 78704, 78722, 78739, 78746, 78751, or 78756
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.heartening.org/
- Instagram: @hearteningaustin
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@heartening.org
