The Uplifters Shop is lifting up Kus-kus-sum and Project Watershed

Deanne McRae and Mackenzie Gartside have started something new in downtown Courtenay - The Uplifters Shop. Unlike a normal for profit retail store, most of the items they sell have some kind of charity kickback. In this way the store “lifts up” a variety of charities both local and abroad. One project they are supporting is Project Watershed’s Kus-kus-sum initiative.

My business partner, Mackenzie Gartside, and I selected your organisation because the site of the former Field’s Sawmill in the K’omoks Estuary is such a concrete eyesore in the heart of our community!  We are so excited to be a small part of your legacy restoring it as a community gem for everyone to enjoy. Your vision of helping the wetlands can’t come soon enough. We feel the education and restoration behind the Kus-Kus-Sum project will be one of the best “community makeover” projects for future generations to benefit from
~Deanne McRae

If you are looking for gifts and would like to support Kus-kus-sum at the same time visit their shop, located at 535 Cliffe Avenue. They are carrying our handmade pottery fish tags and our Keeping It Living gift cards. They are also putting together gift boxes called the Uplifters Shop Care Package. If you select Project Watershed’s Kus-kus-sum when you purchase one of these gift boxes, we will receive 20% of the total cost of the box. The hand painted boxes are filled with personally selected items and a handwritten card informing the recipient of the charitable givebacks included and that a donation was made in their honour.

They are also going to help us distribute the Keeping It Living art we give as a token of appreciation for donations to our Society. Since our offices are currently closed due to COVID, this is a big help to us. The Uplifters Shop is open from 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday to Saturday.