One of the guilds I belonged to in Oregon had a free table, actually several long tables put together. (It was a very large guild.) People brought in their fabric, books, magazines, etc. and just dumped them on the table. Members stood around and took what they wanted. Often one person would be looking for a particular type of fabric, e.g. fabric with daisies, or children's fabrics, and everyone would help her search. It was a great way to socialize with the other guild members. I'm not sure what happened to the things left on the table - the person who brought things definitely did not have to take them home. Perhaps they were donated, perhaps tossed, but many (if not most) of the fabric found a new home. These were not necessarily large pieces of fabric, usually just scraps.