Hearts To Hearts

HEARTS THRIFT CENTRE (Helping Everyone Access Resources Through Support)

Edmonton area HEARTS Thrift Center needs your help!


PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO HELP COUNTLESS EDMONTON AREA FAMILIES IN NEED!


We had been in a temporary location for 6 months from Dec 2018 until May 31, 2018. Sara Brown had been donating $100 a week to keep the food pantry full. When she heard of the demise of Hearts and that we were closing our doors she contacted Teresa. She stated that herself and a group of her friends were going to invest in Hearts to get the doors open and kept open for years to come.  Sarah B  and her group of investors had  promised to cover the start up costs and the overhead/rent on a new centre for 6 months.  They would then reassess after 6 months to see if Hearts still required financial  help. Sara stated that she would guarantee that Hearts would never again have to close its doors.  We found a new building in June and a  1 year lease was  signed. We were going to introduce a new strategy to help with fundraising efforts to pay for the overhead and equipment, in July a gaage sale fundraiser was introduced. 

Sara believed in Hearts and what it was doing for the working poor and families living below the poverty line. Teresa spoke with Sara at 1230  am or 230  am Toronto time on July 2, and they planned to meet on July 2 at 9am for breakfast in order for Sara to give Teresa the funds.  However, tradgedy struck and Sara suffered a stroke while waiting to board the plane home from Toronto at 330 am. Sara's son messaged Teresa to inform her that he would still be following through with his mom's commitment to Hearts. However because of the family contesting the will no funds could be given to Hearts. The other investors still promised to keep their comittment with their promise to Sara but never did follow through after multiple meetings were set up. No one ever attended the meetings and Teresa wasted many hours waiting for the investors to attend the promised meetings. Countless promised meetings, countless texts but Hearts never received any of the promised funds. They even stated  bank drafts had been put in the mail and Hearts would receive them on Sept 7,2018. Nothing ever came and the investor changed his number. Leaving HEARTS in a terrible situation.

Hearts was only able to pay the damage deposit and rent for July becuase of Teresa paying these funds personally. Due to the sales from the garage sale we were able  to pay Aug rent. However we could only pay $2000 for September due to the cost of utility hook ups and shelving.  In  October  another one of Sara's friends reached out to Teresa  and  stated she would donate the money to cover the rent for  Sept,  Oct and November just so we could get the doors open. She wanted to do this in Sara's honor. However, Mary was fighting cancer and lost the battle before she could give us the funds. Sara's son continued to state he would carry out his  mom's withes but never came forward with the funds even after multiple texts and planned meetings. 

We  held garage sale fundraisers starting in July and we were finally able to get the Centre set up so we could open the doors to Hearts on November 12,2018. Again the investors  came forward and said now that Hearts was open they would give us the promised funds. One even personally called the property owners promising to pay the outstanding rents. Again , they never followed through, the property owners had no choice and we were given our eviction papers as of Dec 8,2018. This was again was devastating we had 7800 sq feet in the Centre packed with donations.  We opened the doors for 3 days to the public to come in and take whatever they wanted. We donated 100 U-haul boxed and bags to Bundle up Edmontonton, 2 truck loads to the Mustard Seed, 2 truck loads to the Refuge Mission, 2-26ft U-haul trucks and a 48 foot tractor trailer of items to the Emmanuel Foundation. We paid $500 per day for 2 extra days to get the furnishings and clothes racks etc  out of the Centre. We had to rent 3 starage rooms to hold all these items. We had to leave behind $7500 worth of warehouse racking, all of our huge filing cabinets that we used for our food pantry items. This again was devastating to families as it happened again just before Christmas when so many relied on the centre to get their childrens toy to use as gifts for Christmas. 

Hearts was again contacted and promised the donation of a building from 2 different gentlemen. Teresa was to sign the lease on the bulding Wed Oct 9,2019. The gentleman said he would be at her house at 6 pm. He never showed up and has not responded to any further messages and then disconnected his phone number. Another couple came forward and said they were going to donate some funds to Hearts so that we could find a building and get open. They too never followed through, the gentleman was to drop the bank draft off on Oct 9 , 2019 at 930 am, he never showed up and had not messaged back. This continual string of promises and hope only to have no follow through caused a lot of heartbreak and negativity. Hearts has had all its board members except one resign as they feel that they have put in so much work to see no light at the end of the tunnel. Hearts commited to doing 3 ribfest events during the summer in hopes of raising some funds to open the doors, however these turned out to be a huge failure and Hearts lost almost $17,000. Teresa again has paid almost $9500 personally towards this debt with the balance of it still outstanding. Hearts has been paying almost $1000 a month for the storage rooms and almost $200 a month for insurance. We had held a cash raffle that had helped cover some of the costs of the storage rooms.  However with the losses during ribfest Hearts ended up 3 months behind on the costs of the storage rooms. Again, Teresa took a vacation payout and personally paid off these charges. We donated alot of items on the Campaign to Empower the community page. We downsized to 2 storage rooms and changed the insurance so that Hearts now pays just under $700  a month.  These are costs still personally being covered by Teresa . Hearts has still had no luck in securing a building. Now we are trying to make the decision do we sell all the furnishings or pray for a miracle and hope someone sees the importance of hearts and what it does for our community. 

Fellow Edmontonians and the surrounding communities we need your help now
Please help us keep this dream alive and this much need resource for our community.

When opened HEARTS operates as a  non-profit, volunteer-based, THRIFT Centre.
HEARTS (Helping EVERYONE Access Resources Through Support) charges just $5 for a person to get 15 pieces of clothing including jackets and boots, 1 set of bedding which includes sheets and a blanket, 1 box of hard items which include dishes, cookware, toys, books and more.  Families are also able to take some non perishable food items and personal hygiene items as available. 

We need and  want to continue to fill the needs of so many families right here in the Edmonton area.  Please see our FB pages and news articles published about us for more details. 


Facebook Groups

Campaign To Empower Our Community 

Hearts Official Facebook Page 

Christmas Campaign 


Website

Hearts Website 


News Articles

https://globalnews.ca/news/3921002/edmonton-family-hearts-free-thrift-store-needy/

https://globalnews.ca/video/3921281/global-news-hour-at-6-edmonton-dec-16-2
(8:38) into the video


Hearts needs Help 


We seek public support in gathering $75,000.00  or the donation of a building. 

The money would provide us with enough to secure a warehouse , and warehouse racking. With the donation of a building we could use any acquired funds strictly for racking and over head costs. It would help us to get the centre up and running again in the very near future to service the community. 

We are seeking corporations or individuals that see the good we are doing and can provide a greater lift of capital. 

We are looking for Corporate sponsors to help Edmonton families. 

The board had a stategy that would sustain us going forward once we are able to secure a building and some funds to get the centre up abnd running . We are also able to apply for operational grants and other grants once we have secured a building. 

As we look to the future and remember the past we know we have created a world of possibilities that will support thousands of struggling families in our own back yard and provide a slight bit of HOPE that some need at the right moment in their lives.  

We will continue to pray and search to find the help that HEARTS needs to get another cebntre up and running. We will continue to help families with the Campaign to Empower the Community. This summer our community initiative was to collect and fix bikes for families in need. We ended up giving out 300 bicycles to children from families in need. We have been doing a clothing drive starting in September that is ongoing to help families ensure that they are receiving their basic needs for their children. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/822604357866397/


We will continue to help families at Christmas time to be sponsored so they can provde their families with a Christmas. Something they wouldn't be able to do without a sponsor. This year we had 207 families sponsored with large Christmas hampers, parents received pajamas and a gift. We had 488 children receive pajamas, an outfit and at least 1 toy. Plus we were able to provide Christmas dinner to 34 other families. 

https://www.facebook.com/946035428803459/photos/113407016506787/

We will continue to post and keep members updated on the Hearts Thrift Centre page and pray that one day we will again have a centre up and running and be helping families to provide their families with their basic needs

https://www.facebook.com/566966910349718/photos/p.902113700168369/




THE NEED IS GREAT!   2522 families representing 8966 individuals accessed the first temporary location of HEARTS between December 8th, 2017 through May 24,2018  despite the the location not being  on a bus route.  WE KNEW we could service countless others in the location we had secured on the bus route.

We only had the second location for  Hearts open from November 12  up to and including Dec 8, 2019 and we helped  700 + individuals.

AGAIN, PLEASE HELP US HELP FAMILIES RIGHT HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY AND continue to provide HOPE and the means to meet the needs of their loved ones.  Your donation will positively affect so many families. And, spread the word!  We need as much help as possible.  Thank you!






“...I would just like to takes this time to thank you for everything you have done for Suanne and me...you answered our call for help, and for the next 8 months you continued to help us without hesitation, or asking for any monetary return. If it had not been for your campaign, your giving spirit, your hard work to source what we needed, and just an overall blessing of giving, we would have surely been in serious trouble. It is very rare to find such a big hearted giver such as yourself and all those that helped in our 8 months with the baby, And with your new free thrift store that you have opened is a much more benefit for the community. You give away clothing items and small house ware goods and all you ask in return is either, trade it in, or volunteer sometime.  And I know in the last few months I have seen the benefit to the community at large with this free thrift store….  I just want to thank you for all you do, and all the help you have given us, you are a true community hero,  and I hope that you can get the recognition for all you do. Love ya always, - Douglas Paul, Suanne Perley &family



“Having this thrift centre is a Huge blessing for myself and for many people who cannot afford to provide all the necessities we need for ourselves and our families in today's economy….[HEARTS] is unique...we can give and take necessities for just $5 which is extremely beneficial to many families” - Sherrie



“I’m Kevin, the man who achieved the confidence to success in my respective community due to the significant support from family and dear friends that have contributed to my now wonderful life, The HEARTS. staff will be forever in my prayers... “- Kevin



“This centre is truly needed and from what I have seen it not only helps providing the necessities but it’s helped lower [family] stress, anxiety and depression levels, helped boost children’s self-esteem and lessened bullying on a school bus . I wish to continue seeing this store available to families in need. And a very huge thank you to Teresa [Founder] for helping so many families in need . Very amazing. Edmonton has a true Angel. - Jes