A charitable project so overwhelmed with donations that it has to pay to dispose of rags its donors could have thrown away for free, KaliLaska (You’re Welcome) faces the same costs as a business. However, its coordinator Natalia Goryachaya still finds optimism in turning unneeded things into something socially useful.
In October 2018, the KaliLaska store marked its first year in operation, although the charitable project has been active for five. Citizens bring in good quality but unwanted items, mostly clothes, and they are sold or given to those who need them. About five percent of the items received are put up for sale, and the revenue earned goes toward covering the project’s expenses.
On the second floor of the Korpus Culture Center, located at 9 Mašerav Praspiekt, project coordinator Natalia Goryachaya is waiting for us before the store opens. We interview her about complicated life and beautiful clothing while she strokes Prutik the cat. Natalia found him in very bad condition, but nursed him back to health. He now lives in the store itself.
The cat was named for the way he looked. When Natalia first met him, his little body was no bigger than her hand. But Prutik [“Little Twig”] recovered. In his short life, he has already had three operations. Now Prutik is well, even though he only has three legs.
“We have a strong business strategy. The KaliLaska project is developing just as we planned. More people are finding out about us; we’re getting more items into our warehouses; and more and more people are receiving our help,” says Natalia, summing up last year’s work. “Nevertheless, we understood from the start that we were unlikely to be able to collect as many donations and sell as many items as we had hoped. First, it depends on the size of our warehouse and the number of workers we have. However big the warehouse might be, there will be a moment when it becomes too small for the project. As well, we are also limited by our target market.
We received financing from readers of the online magazine Imena [Names] – 13,451 Belarusian rubles (BYN), about $6,300 – and won 6,000 BYN ($2,815) on [the reality game show] Paskarennie. We are striving to spend these funds strictly according to budget, for the salary of the warehouse administrator, rent, and taxes. However, I think that the money will be gone after the New Year, and we will need to think again about how to keep things going. The commercial side of the project – the shop – is working smoothly, but the revenue is not always sufficient to cover the constantly increasing costs.”
On taxes and salaries
“In Belarus, socially responsible businesses are few and far between, and only a few groups succeed. And in the Belarusian context, “succeed” means surviving without more subsidies. Everything depends on a law on socially responsible enterprises that has not yet been passed.
The model of socially responsible business, popular the world over, doesn’t operate in Belarus.
We’ve struggled to make it work; for example, we spent more than one month racking our brains with lawyers. Now the project functions as two organizations: one commercial and one non-commercial.
The non-commercial organization accepts donations from the general public and gives a percentage to the store, whose sales also pay our taxes. The main goal of this organization is receiving and transferring items to other charitable organizations and people in need.
The store sells items and reinvests the revenue. However, from the legal point of view, we could easily keep our profits instead – they are subject to exactly the same taxes as any commercial business. There is no special non-profit status that would make our socially responsible work easier.
Moreover, there are payroll taxes and other payments to the state. We prepared for this when we put together our business plan, and, for the time being, we are managing.
In addition to this, we rent two warehouses: the big one costs about 1,450 BYN ($680) monthly and the smaller one 250 BYN ($120). For our purposes, the warehouse space cannot have the typical earthen floors and drafts everywhere. We need office-type space, ’finished’ to a reasonable degree, with heating and good-quality ventilation. Textiles represent some 95 percent of the items we receive. Humidity, dampness, and poor ventilation can have ruinous effects on these items.”
The KaliLaska team
“At the moment, the warehouse chief is Aleksandr. We were able to hire him thanks to the Imena donations. He works part-time, three or four days a week. His duties include helping with receiving donations, distributing items to the needy, maintaining order in the warehouse, and recycling. That is to say, he is always doing whatever is needed. His salary is 400 BYN ($187) a month.
We also have a team of volunteers. There is a core group, the backbone, on whom you can always rely; and there are occasional volunteers, who often burn with desire to help but do not last long. The work is extremely hard, spending the whole day on your feet, sorting through hundreds of kilograms of items. Your back starts complaining before the day is half done. In addition, this work is not for the faint-hearted: people bring in awful things, quite worn out. Therefore, it is important to have a certain tolerance for the vile.”
The trash problem
“When we won that 6,000 BYN prize, we planned to spend it all on warehouse rent; after all, that is the biggest long-term cost. But suddenly we had a new expense –garbage removal.
The more people brought in donations, the more garbage we generated. How does this happen?
People don’t always understand what they should donate, and so they bring in everything – the torn, the worn, and the dirty. It seems that people don’t understand the purpose of the project.
We seek to collect good-quality stuff, not everything you want to throw away. The people we help are those who want to look smart and stylish. We want them to look this way too. We won’t give them clothes with obvious defects, your granddaughter’s old jacket or your moth-eaten coat.
We end up collecting piles of items which are unsuitable for wear and even more unsuitable for sale. If you are an individual, then you pay for your garbage collection together with your other utilities, and you can dispose of whatever you want. But if you are a legal entity, you must pay separately for this kind of overhead. As a result, we pay over 300 BYN ($140) monthly for garbage collection. We have our own container for everyday garbage; we separate our waste, sending plastic to the Zaduma project and recycling paper with Belgips-ECO. But no one accepts rags, and it is harder and harder to get rid of them at low cost.
So we end up spending the monthly cost of the salary of a salesperson to get rid of waste which people have brought us.”
The project is now collecting “abomination donations” to photograph and highlight what NOT to bring to KaliLaska.
To whom do we give?
“I remember all of those whom we help, even though there are hundreds. I know their clothing and shoe sizes. I get items ready for organizations and individuals based on their needs and requests. It’s great to hear back from them – their reactions, appreciation, and delight with what they received from KaliLaska. But at the same time, I understand that our help doesn’t change their lives. A person who is needy remains in need. Ours is only temporary relief. If our project disappears, what will happen to these people?
It’s very hard to see human problems and not to stress about them.
Sometimes I go in person to see the people we assist, witnessing this side of the project first-hand. Many are in terrible circumstances. Vika from Barysaw [a town northeast of Minsk] was born healthy, but developed an infection in a maternity hospital that affected her brain. Now she’s 18 but can’t be left alone at home; she needs constant care and assistance. She can’t speak, has problems with mobility, and is in danger of harming herself.
Andrei from Miory [in northern Belarus] has a severe form of autism. He is 27, a big, strong young man. In his wooden house, the windows are broken and the furniture smashed. During his episodes, Andrei can destroy everything; his delicate mother is not strong enough to control him at such moments.
Kristina had an accident when she was four. Under her thick, curly hair, this beautiful girl hides a huge dent in her skull. Her right arm and leg have poor mobility and are stunted compared to those on her left side. She dreams of becoming a model, and always poses side-on, in order not to show her deformities. Parents of children like these cannot work; nobody will hire someone who is tied to a child who will never get better.
I made the decision long ago that I would be aware of what is happening with the people we help, but I could not get involved. Otherwise, I just couldn’t cope.
Over the last three months, we donated approximately eight tons of items to twelve organizations. We also try to help about ten families a week, although that isn’t always possible – the warehouse is simply too crowded and we’d need a separate space for distribution.
In general, we load a big van with parcels and deliver them. Sometimes, if an organization has its own car, it can collect directly from our warehouse. Anyone can receive help – just leave us a request on our office phone.
We help different kinds of people – 10 percent are those who have suddenly found themselves in a terrible situation and really need help; 40 percent are people with disabilities or illnesses; and 50 percent are families with many children. We help everyone who needs help, no matter how a person ended up in that situation.”
“The KaliLaska project lives its own life, and we just help keep it going,” Natalia laughs. “You never know how much stuff people are going to bring in – 500 kilograms or three to four metric tons. Volunteers come to sort through the things, sometimes working in pairs. But we are prepared for anything, because we have seen a lot. The project is constantly growing out of control – it’s almost alive! – and it’s necessary to be flexible.
When the warehouse was also here on Mašerav Prospekt, we did everything. On donation days, not only the warehouse and reception room but also the corridors were full of bags. It took a long time to find our current warehouse, but now we’re already hunting for more room. The project will probably keep moving around, until somehow it obtains its own space.
On some donation days, so many people come that there is congestion in the courtyard where the warehouse is located, and the space is filled to the rafters during the first hours. Sometimes there is so much stuff that packages even fill the corridors. Thankfully, we have a back entrance. After a donation day, it’s no longer possible to enter by the main entrance.
There are so many packages that there is simply no space for inspection and sorting. And that’s even considering that not everyone who wants to come manages to get here. Therefore, the warehouse now works on the principle that we accept everything which has been brought in, distribute it, and then set the date for the next donation day. It’s impossible to make a schedule in advance.”
“In a month, the KaliLaska store sells 500 kilograms of items and brings in around 2,000 BYN ($940)”
“The store’s target audience is interesting and varied. I would divide it into three categories. The first is young people and students who want to look stylish, but don’t have the money for that. The second is lovers of flea markets and collectors, who seek out and collect unique pieces, for example porcelain or records.
And the third – I call them ‘Bohemians’ – are people who are looking for something unique and incredible, for example designer or vintage items. It’s great to see cultural figures wearing our outfits on stage, or seeing them used as props in photography studios and on film...
In the course of a month, the store sells about 400-500 kilograms of items. A good donation day gives us the possibility of holding a weekend market, and there we can move 700-800 kilograms. This produces extra revenue and turns over stock, helping us to break even. Markets aren’t free business for us, though. We rent the space – nothing is free! But we always make our money back, so we can run more sales. They have become a regular thing, and the popularity of the ‘KaliLaska Sale’ flea markets is growing.
When the store debuted, only one person, the sales clerk, was on salary. But it’s impossible for one person to work seven days a week, so we soon hired someone for another shift. Now there are two and, in addition to their main work, they also help out in the warehouse. Each gets a monthly salary of 300 BNY ($140). But we offer supplements for high-volume days and bonuses for working at events. The project can survive if daily earnings average 80 BNY ($40).”
Natalia is the person most involved in the project, but only serves as a volunteer. More precisely, she is the coordinator and driving force. In parallel, she has her own project, the Plush coffee shop, which is located right across the road from KaliLaska.
“I’ve been ‘doing’ KaliLaska for nearly four years, because I have my own business and have something else to live on. As well, I find it easier to work with things than with people. I know everything about clothes and goods – this is my element.
I love objects, and I know what to do with them, how they should be properly used. I have a thirst for things to be ordered, and KaliLaska is exactly my sort of project – tons of unneeded things are turned into useful and socially important things. After work, I feel enormous satisfaction. The world has become more perfect – unneeded things have become needed, the garbage has been taken away, and everything that can be recycled has been sent to the right place.
Why don’t I burn out? I am not emotionally involved, even though I can empathize. But a high level of empathy is easily smothered by a mountain of tasks, by the necessity to work dispassionately.”
Originally published on CityDog.by on October 23, 2018. Translated from Russian into English for Transitions Online by Victoria Roberts.
