Vacant suite next door becomes thrift store that supports local foster-care alumni

Tim Harty, The Business Times 

You get inspired when you get inspired.

And when you’re Kim Raff, that might be when you’re taking out the trash for the nonprofit organization you direct.

Well, not “might be when,” that “was when” an idea popped in her head about what to do with that vacated unit, Suite B-101, next door to her nonprofit organization, Foster Alumni Mentors, in the commercial building at 529 25 1/2 Road, Suite B-103, in Independence Plaza.

Two words: thrift store.

That sounded great, but as she often does, Raff bounced the idea off her trusty sidekick, Foster Alumni Mentors Director of Development Sharon Bouse-Ferry, on that day five or six months ago.

Raff recalls the pitch going like this: “I told Sharon, ‘Hear me out,’” and Raff paused for dramatic effect before uttering an enthusiastic, “Thrift shop!”

Raff didn’t have to say what Bouse-Ferry’s reaction was, because she told the tale in early July while the two stood in the middle of the result of that conversation: The Inspired Starfish thrift shop.

The store accepts donations of new and gently used furniture and other furnishings, home goods, art and decor, area rugs, small kitchen appliances, books, etc., that it can sell.

All of the altruistic reasons for opening the nonprofit business apply, but The Inspired Starfish is also a practical endeavor. It’s a social enterprise, and its revenues will help cover what grants do not for Foster Alumni Mentors.

“We needed it to continue receiving additional funding and revenue,” Raff said. “Like some of the grants may not be available, and so this will help fill the gaps for our funding (at FAM).”

And another logical business benefit of operating The Inspired Starfish is it will provide internships to those who Foster Alumni Mentors serves: people who aged out of the foster-care system.

Foster Alumni Mentors through its programs currently serves 112 members, most of them between the ages of 18 and 24, according to Raff.

“People that we’re currently serving will be offered the internship opportunity or an opportunity to fill out an interest form,” she said. “We’re looking at between six to 10 internships per year over here.”

The internships will be through the Mesa County Workforce Center, Raff said, “but they’ll be working here to learn different skill sets. So, the hard skill sets of how to run a cash register, how to count back change, how to keep a store and maintain.

“But then those soft skills of: How do you greet people? How do you work with coworkers? How do you work under somebody who’s supervising you? How do you ask questions and ask for time off? And just those different pieces that you aren’t typically taught when you start a job.”

There’s more.

“They’ll also get the opportunity to learn how to do inventory and accept donations,” Raff said. “And we’re looking at doing a pickup and dropoff option as well. And then refurbishing furniture. So, there’ll be a lot of different skills that they can learn, even scheduling and bookkeeping, and it’ll be depending on what they desire to learn. It’s not everybody is front-facing, front-of-the-store kind of workers.”

Getting started required help from benefactors that Raff calls founding partners. They have two: First Light Home Care and Western Colorado Community Foundation. Raff said The Inspired Starfish is going to have five founding partners, so “we’re working on securing the other three right now.”

And to make the thrift store successful, it will always need donations and volunteers.

“We’re accepting donations, accepting volunteers, because it takes people to process things and move furniture,” Bouse-Ferry said. “And there’s lots of phases that we have in mind.”

Getting the community involved also is paramount, as Raff said beyond helping Foster Alumni Mentors by generating revenue, The Inspired Starfish can help it by creating community awareness.

“I mean, we’ve been around since 2017 – that’s when I started it – and I still find people that had never heard of it, or didn’t know we existed until they’ve read the paper or they saw something in the news,” Raff said of Foster Alumni Mentors.

Achieving community awareness then leads to people getting involved and donating.

“I think that’s really where it comes together,” she said, “because what we’re building next door is we’re building a community around young people who are aging out of the foster-care system, who don’t have a support system, who don’t have that community.

“If we can extend that out into the greater community, and it helps them to know that they’re loved, valued and that they matter, that they’re seen, because oftentimes this is a silent, hidden population … if our community knew what we were doing here and understood how we’re really helping them to navigate adulthood, so that they can be successful, I think there would be a lot more eyes open to the possibility of what these young people are capable of.”

That’s the context that informs Raff’s thinking when she’s taking out the trash and inspiration strikes. That’s the context that can inspire two words – thrift shop – that stir excitement and the hope of making a difference for people who, like she also did, aged out of foster care and needed a little help in the next steps of life.

Find It, Learn More

If you’d like to shop at The Inspired Starfish, the thrift store is located at 529 25 1/2 Road, Suite B-101 in Independence Plaza, a commercial complex just east of Sam’s Club in Grand Junction.

The store is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Monday-Tuesday.

To find out more about Foster Alumni Mentors, go online to fosteralumnimentors.org.

If you would like to donate furniture or other home goods to The Inspired Starfish or check into volunteer opportunities, call Kim Raff or Sharon Bouse-Ferry at 970-234-3519 or email kim@fosteralumnimentors.com or sharon@fosteralumnimentors.com.

Grand Opening is July 18

After having a soft opening June 18, the grand opening for The Inspired Starfish will be July 18.

The choice of the 18th of each month was no accident, as Bouse-Ferry said, “The 18th is relevant because young people that age out of the foster-care system age out around 18. So that’s why that day is of significance to us.”

The Inspired Starfish just missed a trifecta, as its lease at Independence Plaza was signed May 15. If only they could have waited three more days.

What Inspired the Name?

When Kim Raff, executive director of Foster Alumni Mentors in Grand Junction, was asked how the thrift store got its name, The Inspired Starfish, the easy part of the answer was the starfish is the logo of Foster Alumni mentors, and she wanted starfish and inspire in the name.

The more complex answer started with a question from her: “Have you ever heard the starfish story?”

Raff proceeded to read from the card that accompanies this Information Box, then said she aged out of foster care, and that’s why she started Foster Alumni Mentors in 2017. She knows the value of providing a support system for foster-care alums.

That was the bridge to a personal story from Raff that went like this: “When I was in high school in foster care, I went to these events that were all across the state of Minnesota that the schools put on called PIP Fest, Partners in Prevention. And different schools would all congregate to one school, and it would be a whole weekend of connection and learning and growth and stuff like that. But they handed out a little pamphlet, and you open it up and on that first page was the Starfish story. And I always remembered it.”

Raff wears a starfish necklace, and Foster Alumni Mentors has the starfish logo, so when she and friends sat around a table one day to throw out ideas and words, she said, “We knew we wanted to have the starfish in it. And I, like my tag name on social media and stuff is Live to Inspire Life, so I want to inspire others and show them what’s possible. And so that’s where we were like, ‘Well, we know we want starfish in it, we know we want inspire’, so that’s where it came from.”