To the editor:
Re: "Charity bins rile Champlain Heights man," Aug. 31.
Clothing donation comprises 50 per cent of our funding, allowing us to help at-risk children. Our more than 20-year relationship with Savers is imperative to our ability to provide services to local families who need our programs. We collect clothing donations, which we sell to Savers, the profit from which we use to fund our mentoring programs. We are paid by the pound an amount surpassing what we would get anywhere else. This arrangement allows us to focus on our mission rather than a retail business.
I would like to clarify the sentence in the article indicating Savers "pays the charities a fee to use their name." This is not correct. Rather, we operate the bins as a supplement pick-up method to home pickup, which comprises most of our clothing collection. In fact, we operate very few donation bins and have permission to place the bins we do operate inside apartment complexes and businesses.
Valerie Lambert, executive director, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver
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