Caroline’s Non Profit Thrift Store opened in 2010 with a single goal: raise funds to help the nonprofit organizations that work with children with special needs and their families.
Founder Christine Licker says her inspiration was her daughter Caroline, who died at 16 after receiving support from four of these organizations.
“I do it to ease the fundraising burden for nonprofits that provide amazing services for our kids,” she said. “Caroline’s is first and foremost a fundraiser. That’s really what I do every day and what my crew does every day.”
And it is clear that her mission has been a success—since its inception, Caroline’s has raised well over $3.3 million, which she gifts every year to several local nonprofits.
In her first year, she gave away $40,000, a number that grew to $120,000 the next year.
This year, Licker handed out checks to 37 organizations totaling $575,000 on Sunday. She says she bases the amounts given out on several factors, including the number of children they impact.
In a new larger space in Aptos Village, Licker says she hopes to grow her crew of roughly 70 volunteers.
Volunteer Jan Adamson says she loves the camaraderie of the team at the thrift store.
“(Volunteering) means giving back, it means service, it gives us purpose,” she said.
Recipients
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters SC: $15,000
• Boys & Girls Club SC: $15,000
• Building Generations: $3,000
• Camp Kesem UCSC: $15,000
• Circle Family Center: $20,000
• Community Bike Collective: $5,000
• Community Bridges: $25,000
• Camp Okizu: $5,000
• Court Appointed Special Advocates: $25,000
• Coastal Kids Home Care: $40,000
• Equine Healing Collaborative: $2,500
• FoodWhat: $10,000
• For Kids Foundation Monterey Bay: $18,000
• Growing Greatness: $2,500
• Mountain2Sea: $2,500
• Dientes: $20,000
• The Diversity Center: $15,000
• Hope’s Closet: $15,000
• Hospice of Santa Cruz: $40,000
• Jacob’s Heart: $35,000
• Live Like Coco: $10,000
• Monarch Services: $25,000
• NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness: $20,000
• Nourishing Generations: $20,000
• O’Neill Sea Odyssey: $2,500
• Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance: $10,000
• Partnership for Children: $15,000
• Raices y Cariño: $6,000
• Salud y Cariño: $10,000
• Second Harvest Food Bank: $25,000
• Siena House: $7,000
• Pajaro Valley Shelter Services: $20,000
• Shared Adventures: $10,000
• Special Parents Information: $20,000
• Survivor’s Healing Center Network: $7,500
• Teen Kitchen Project: $24,000
• Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center: $15,000
