Made Here - How a small idea turned into more than just a retail store

A little less than a year ago I had an idea to help raise some money for The Dream Factory, a charity that is close to our heart here at Vantage. The Dream Factory is a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling dreams for kids who are battling life-threatening illnesses. They are unique because they are based in Manitoba – and all of the funds they raise stay in this province to help local children. Everything they do is focused on helping sick kids and their families. It is close to our heart for a number of reasons but a big reason is that my business partner, Kyle Romaniuk was a Dream Kid. After being diagnosed with cancer at age 12 The Dream Factory, formerly known as the Rainbow Society granted his wish to swim with dolphins (He also asked for his dream to play basketball with Michael Jordan but that was not possible, yet as we feel nothing is impossible!). Kyle won his battle with cancer and grew up to start his own branding agency called Cocoon Branding. In 2011, The Rainbow Society approached Cocoon Branding to help with marketing, unbeknownst to the non-profit organization, Kyle was once a Dream Kid. So the agency decided to donate their time to create a full re-brand and The Dream Factory Brand was born. (See the brand launch here: link).

The Little Idea

Over the years Vantage, Cocoon and other agencies in Winnipeg merged and Kyle and I worked together under the same umbrella corp. Vantage who excelled in smaller business branding, design and print and Cocoon who focused on larger strategy and marketing as well as Velocity and Clark Huot, 2 other Manitoba born agencies. Combined we were able to offer our clients alot more options as well as learn from each other. In 2017 I was looking for a way to help raise money for The Dream Factory and with about 3 week from Christmas I thought maybe I could reach out to some of our print clients who are local artisans here in Manitoba to help launch a 'Holiday Pop-up Shop' in our print shop located in the Richardson Centre. I reached out to a few of these artisans to put their product in our shop on consignment and the proceeds would go to The Dream Factory. Without hesitation they all said yes and we scrambled to set-up our little store. With only 2 weeks to raise money we were able to donate about $200 to the non-profit and our staff at Vantage all chipped in and matched the donation. Not a whole lot but the team at The Dream Factory were grateful and said "$400 is a ticket to swim with dolphins or a Jets game with family". So the impact, yet small was still able to make a difference. So I thought "What if we can make a bigger impact, give more dreams and hopefully change lives, even if its just for a brief moment in time?"

The Big Idea

With an idea and a vacant spot across the hall from our print shop and down the hall from our agency, I decided to approach Bentall Kennedy who manages the Richardson Centre building, owned by The Richardson Family. The pitch was to create a partnership that will not only drive more traffic to The Richardson Centre by creating a retail store with products made right here in Manitoba but raise money for local charities. Without hesitation, Dawn, Tricia and Danielle from Bentall said "Yes, lets do it". We presented the idea to the Richardson Management team and again, another yes. With so many great people helping to make this happen I now had the uphill battle of actually making this idea a reality. Managing Vantage as well as my partnerships in Have A Nice Day restaurant and The Good Will Social Club, and not to mention a little baby boy on the way I really thought I bit of more than I could chew. Weeks passed and I really thought to myself "Can this actually happen and could I do this without having a complete breakdown" (not to say that I didn't throughout this process). I was about two days away from heading back to the 6th floor of the Richardson building to talk to the team at Bentall to say that I really don't think I can do this. Needless to say I felt defeated, not to mention all the other stresses and difficulties that come with being a business owner.

How The Stars Aligned

After sending out a few emails for a completely unrelated topic I got a response from a gentlemen named Jeremy Wat, who I think just might be a real angel. We set up a meeting at Vantage, got to talking, but nothing was really a good fit at the time. He decided to bring up a little side project he was doing to see if maybe I could give him some feed back or assist with a social media growth strategy. He opened up his phone, logged onto his Instagram and turned his phone to me. I am not sure if it was the halo on his head or the light from the phone that nearly blinded me (yes a little dramatic of a description) but what he was doing was exactly what I was looking for. Made Here For You was a project Jeremy created which curated over 200+ makers/artisans online, something he did on the side as a hobby for the love of local. I told him about my idea and asked if he wanted to partner on it and he said "Absolutely". He also had a partner he worked with, Melissa Penner (designer), together they reached out to all the makers they worked with on the Made Here For you portal. Melissa, with lots of retail experience and one of the most energetic people I have ever met, was able to come in and design the space, along with Jeremy. They were able to get over 100+ makers to be a part of this idea.

With an already great team in place, Andre Kussy from the Dream Factory offered to help with the Charity component which was a huge asset. Andrew is on the board of a number of charities and has been able to make a big impact for so many people. Melissa and Andrew agreed that a focus on children's charities would be the best fit. Andrew presented us with Art City, Junior Achievement and Snowflake Place as the 3 additional charities to the Dream Factory, reached out to them and again we got instant yes' to our idea.

On October 4th 2018 we opened the doors to the first (that we know of) Local Makers in support of Local Children's Charities.

Our Goal

Our community at Made Here has set an ambitious goal to raise $20,000 for local children’s charities this year. We hope to attain that goal through the incredible generosity of our makers, who have agreed to donate a portion of each sale towards supporting local charitable initiatives. Every purchase will directly help make some amazing things happen for kids here in Manitoba.

Here are the Charities and where your money goes;

The Dream Factory:

WHO: The Dream Factory is a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling dreams for kids who are battling life-threatening illnesses. All of the funds raised by the Manitoba-based organization stay in this province to help local children. The Dream Factory is focused on helping sick kids and their families.

$5,000 covers the cost of an incredible Dream Bedroom Makeover for one of the 35+ Dream Kids we are supporting this year!

$5 pays for an ice cream treat for a Dream Kid having the best time at the “happiest place on Earth,” Disney World!

Junior Achievement:

WHO: JA Canada has been inspiring and preparing youth to succeed by providing opportunities to learn financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work readiness skills with engaging programs and the help of dedicated volunteers.

$5,000 will go towards JA’s three World of Choices Career Exposition events and help to pay the facility, busing and meal costs for more than 900 students this year.

Art City:

WHO:Art City is a not-for-profit community art studio dedicated to providing people of all ages with innovative and professional art programming, free of charge. Art City’s primary goal is to provide space and tools for anyone who wishes to express themselves creatively.

$5,000 covers the cost of pottery supplies and professional instruction (twice weekly) for more than 1,100 children and youth for an entire year.

$5 pays for a nutritious meal for two kids who have limited access to healthy food.

Snowflake Place For Children & Youth:

WHO:Snowflake Place for Children and Youth provides multi-system collaboration in child abuse investigations, ensuring that children, youth and their families receive support and services in a safe, neutral, family-friendly setting.

$5,000 will help Snowflake Place launch a support group for caregivers of children who have been sexually abused. This program will help parents and caregivers build knowledge and skills to provide emotional and psychological support for their child as they work through the investigative and healing process.

$5 can make a big difference for the children we serve, children who have experienced abuse by equipping our child’s interview room with colouring supplies.

Made Here : Located at L14 - 1 Lombard Ave. In The Richardson Centre (Under the Fairmont Hotel)

Open: Mon - Fri : 11am to 5pm

We are volunteer run and are looking for volunteers. If you are interested please contact [email protected]