Trailer filled with donations stolen

Organization that provides clothing for babies launches new fundraiser

With its newly bought storage trailer stolen and its budget decimated by COVID-19, a local charity to help clothe infants is launching its final fundraising campaign of 2020.

Basically Babies, 14839 118 Ave., is an Edmonton organization that helps infants in need with clothing for a year.

Like many other charitable organizations, it felt the sting of the COVID-19 pandemic as physical distancing was enforced and people pinched their pennies.

Board member Janet Wilson said Basically Babies saw a reduction of two-thirds of its $365,000 operating budget as it was forced to cancel its biggest fundraisers, a gala, a Mother's Day brunch and a golf tournament.

It also had to tell its volunteers they couldn't work at its warehouse and they had to stop accepting in-person donations.

“Then with government cuts, and everybody being careful with money right now, a number of the grants that we usually get weren't available this year either,” said Wilson. “So it's just been one thing after another, after another, after another.”

To top it off, a utility trailer the organization was using to store donations to ensure they were COVID-FREE before sorting them was stolen this past weekend.

“It was full of donations. So we estimate between the cost of the trailer and the inventory that would have been in it, there's probably about $22,000 worth of loss right there,” she said.

Edmonton police spokeswoman Patrycja Mokrzan said the trailer was reported stolen and an investigation is underway.

“The member in charge is checking the area to see if there is any video surveillance that could be helpful. The trailer has also been listed as stolen, as per usual protocols,” said Mokrzan in an email.

Wilson said the silver lining through all the organization's troubles is that it has not had to turn any families away this year.

“We're very good stewards, we are really, really financially responsible. So we've done strategic planning over the years to plan for `what if?' kind of situations. We never anticipated a pandemic, of course, but we've shifted,” she said.

To round out the year, the organization has launched its Quadruple Your Gift fundraiser. Private supporters will match every dollar donated at a rate of four to one until Dec. 31.

Wilson said the organization is hoping to replace the stolen trailer with the money it raises.

DAVID BLOOM Janet Wilson, a board member for Basically Babies, a charity that helps supply families with baby clothes, says several of its fundraisers were lost to the pandemic but that the organization has not had to turn families away. It's looking to raise funds to replace items stolen last weekend.