In early 2014 White Pony Express added a new program, the White Pony General Store, to our signature Food Rescue program. The new program was created to more easily share the abundance of clothing, toys, and children’s books in our community with the people and families who would most benefit from them. We learned after our first General Store "Boutique" that some of the guests were hesitant to shop, because they assumed they would have to pay for items they were receiving that day. As a result of that first experience, we added the word “Free” to our name to help our guests feel comfortable shopping for whatever they needed, without worry about cost and for the past few years, the name of our program was the White Pony Express "Free General Store".
Now, five years later, we are well-known in Contra Costa County for freely distributing food, clothing, and other needed items, and it seems like a happy time to change back to the name our founder gave us originally. You will begin to see the "new" name, White Pony General Store, show up in our official business, paperwork and communications as we drop the word "free" from the official name of the program. Rest assured, all of our Boutiques, and our food and product distributions are given without cost to our recipient partners and individuals. It will take some time to change over all our signs and other materials, and we may, from time to time, add “free” underneath the name when helpful, but going forward, we celebrate our circle of giving at the White Pony General Store.