In 2011, two Community School Coordinators from Burnaby identified a pressing need to support children and families accessing extra curricular programming in schools in South East Burnaby. They envisioned a solution that would generate funds to benefit the community, ensuring steady and dependable financial support for the schools in the area. We explored various fundraising options, including grant writing, but realized that securing consistent funding would be difficult. Inspired by other successful non-profit thrift stores, we came up with the idea for the BASES Family Thrift Store. The grand opening occurred in October 2013, and since then, the proceeds from the thrift store have been sustaining our initiatives.
In 2014, BASES successfully raised a few thousand dollars, enabling us to support programs in four schools in Burnaby. By 2018, the BASES Family Thrift Store had generated sufficient funding to assist twelve schools across both Burnaby and New Westminster. Additionally, we are now able to provide financial support to the school districts for district-wide extracurricular initiatives.
