Making a dream come true

Times Reporter

 

Finding a place to fit into the community can sometimes be hard for special needs people, which was one of the reasons why Betty and Katy Webster bought Audrey’s Consignment. On June 6 the mother and daughter bought the store and have since renamed it Katy’s Consignment. 

“She (Katy) has worked at other places in town doing kind of the same thing, and we just wanted more for Katy than that because she’s really smart,” said Betty.

“Also one of the reasons that we decided to do this was, first of all it’s really difficult for her to find a job in this community. There are a lot of people that are really hesitant about it, and also she’s had a few jobs where they begrudgingly accepted her.

“We’re hoping with this store what we could do is reach out to the community, and they could get to know Katy, and find out how much fun she is and how comfortable they can be around her.” 

Betty thought purchasing a consignment store would be an ideal fit. It would provide a way for Katy to access the whole community. Katy has been helping to do the pricing, taking care of the purses, and will eventually be learning how to work the cash register. Working the cash and doing the transactions has sort of been a dream of Katy’s for sometime so she is excited for when she learns how to do them.

“I normally do…rearranging of all the clothes and make sure they are (in good shape),” said Katy.

“It’s a big step, but something I’ve been thinking about for a long time and actually (I) originally thought about a coffee shop. It was just too much work for (myself) and for her. She would be back cleaning and wiping tables, and so I thought this is a whole different (thing),” said Betty. 

“What I like about this store is once the holding has expired after a certain amount of time, we contact the Siksika Nation, the Crisis Centre and also the women’s crisis centre to see if we can donate clothes to them. If not, then we donate them to the cerebral palsy bins so that everything gets recycled.”

Both women are board members with the Hope Bridges Society which Betty said is very important in their life because one of the goals of Hope Bridges is to reach out to everyone that is marginalized, whether they are disabled, a senior or someone that is new to the country, and find a way to make them part of the community. 

“It’s just a matter of Katy being visible to the community and the community respecting her position and her right to be in the community,” said Betty. 

She feels most of the time it’s just a matter of educating people, and she thinks Strathmore is the ideal community to embrace the special people in town. 

With the exception of Mondays and Fridays when Katy is taking part in programs at the Foothills AIM Society she can be seen at the store, usually around the purses, which she loves.