Bampot House

My name is Alex, and I'm the owner/operator of Bampot, a once-teahouse, but now so much more, community hub in Toronto.

I've been running it for close to two years now, and in that time we have seen an incredible array of ups and downs. We have built a community around us that has grown at an amazing rate, and now we need to ask that community for help.

During the pandemic, I still had to go back and forth to the hospital at the height of the lockdowns for dialysis. I have been living with CKD (chronic kidney disease) since I was eleven, and have been on dialysis since I lost my transplant at the age of 16. While I was still able to maintain going to dialysis, other points of my health suffered as the hospital workers became overworked, and now I have a large upcoming dentistry bill due to an oversight on the hospital's part because of a lack of calcium. I started on supplements, but it was too late, my teeth had already started falling out.

Soon I will have to pay more than 30 thousand for getting my teeth pulled and replaced. That's besides the ramifications of also not being able to be in the business to run it.

The other thing this fundraiser is for, is for the community itself.

I am looking to make our space accesible to all. Currently we have groups that meet here of all ages and types. We host 2 open mics a week on Tuesdays for writers and Wednesdays for a general performers, a monthly writing circle, an art collective that takes over the space on Mondays, open Jam nights on Thursdays, and many many other community events.

We make the pricing easily attainable, and even free for most community events. We pay a living wage plus benefits to our employees. And now we want to turn this old house into a fully wheelchair accesible restaurant and event venue.

Community isn't a monolith, everyone who works here, who has come through these doors, has contributed to the establishment in so many ways that I'm incredibly grateful for, and I want to open the doors to even more community that has a lack of spaces in the city that they can access.

This includes building wheelchair accessible bathrooms, creating a proper ramp to the front door and throughout the building, restructuring where the kitchen is to have enough space for wheelchair users to enter/exit from the establishment.

All this is going to be a massive expense with a lot of downtime for the business. While we do this, I will need to be able to pay my staff, and also to pay for the construction of the space. This will cost upwards of 100k to do.

We appreciate everything you are able to contribute, and want to make this space for anyone who needs community in this post-lockdown world.