Guess what? You’re a superhero! Didn’t you know?

You divert things from the landfill, you keep money pumping through your local economy, you preserve precious resources by decreasing demand for manufacturing new items, you create jobs in your city, you assist disadvantaged men, women, and children in your community, and you even help abandoned and injured animals!

How do you do all that? Simply by buying, selling, and giving away used stuff on your local Used.ca site. That’s right, every time you use one of our local websites for buying and selling, you’re improving your own community economically and environmentally, and you’re also supporting Used.ca’s community outreach projects.

Our community outreach projects are called #UsedHelps, and our Community Coordinators are on the ground and helping out in cities like Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria and PEI, looking for ways that Used.ca can make a difference in their community.

Here’s a roundup of the community outreach projects that UsedOttawa.com did in 2013, all thanks to your continued support:

• Provided baby furniture and supplies for a young mother with a second baby on the way.

• Replaced a broken fridge for a single dad with four kids when their fridge broke.

• Contributed litter boxes, litter, cat food, cat beds, and cat toys to a local cat sanctuary.

• Donated the proceeds from our X-Files 20th Anniversary party to Habitat For Humanity NCR.

• Donated a pressure washer to a parrot and exotic bird rescue operation for cleaning cages.

• Purchased colostomy supplies for a senior couple on a fixed income when they learned the husband had stage IV cancer and required a colectomy.

• Provided children’s clothing for a young family with three boys.

• Organized the building of a winterized cat shelter for abandoned cats in a low-income, high-turnaround neighbourhood so that they have a warm place to be fed and wait for sterilization, vaccination, and adoption. We gave free advertising to Ottawa Home Services Group in exchange for their partnership in enclosing the front porch of the Vanier Street Cats, and made this our biggest community outreach project yet!