ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A sarcastic Facebook Marketplace post has turned into an outreach in the community.
A Centennial, Colorado, man, Justin Mauk, was having a boring evening cleaning his apartment when he happened upon a plastic King Soopers bag. Plastic bags are now banned in Colorado, so he decided to post it on Facebook Marketplace to get a few laughs.
Mauk wrote, “Soon to be highly collectable. Keep this one for the grandkids. Profits will be donated to local food bank, I might even frame it for you.” He listed the “never been used” King Soopers bag for a cool $50.
“I just like to be sarcastic and spread joy to my friends, and positivity, thinking somebody will get a laugh out of this,” Mauk said.
He awoke the next morning to hundreds of messages and comments on the post. That included an unexpected turn: he had a buyer for the bag, the owner of Mother Cutter Design in Aurora.
“She said she liked the idea and wanted to get behind it, and that ‘not only will I pay the 50 bucks, but I’ll double it.’ And I was like, ‘that’s super cool,’ and I was like ‘if you do that, then I’ll match it,'” Mauk said. “So all of a sudden, we were at $200. My employer, Mike’s Bikes, caught wind of it and said they’ll match up to $500.”
That money isn’t going toward Mauk but rather Secor Cares, a local nonprofit food bank.
“It’s kind of a full-circle moment that a plastic bag that we can no longer use is still bringing money and awareness to our local population,” said Lisa Long, with Secor.
Mother Cutter Design now has the bag hanging at its storefront in Aurora for a week, collecting donations for Secor. Donations can also be made through the QR code below.
It was a full-circle moment for Mauk too. He told Nexstar’s KDVR that after an injury put him out of work, he went to the Secor food bank for help.
“They helped me out, so I figured it was my turn to give back to them,” Mauk said.
Since the start of 2024, stores in Colorado were no longer allowed to supply single-use plastic bags beyond what they already had in stock. Many grocery stores, including King Soopers, switched to paper bags at checkout, and customers still need to pay 10 cents per bag.