ABOUT US

Janel Edwards - Woman with glasses in a suit and jeans. Hands are in the back pockets. Owner + Founder

We learned that we were pregnant in January, expecting twins in February, and by March, I was taking off of work due to the pandemic - by the end of the month, I was basically living in quarantine. The only people I saw were my husband, my team of doctors, and my family - most of the time through facetime or a window. At the end of my first trimester, we began attending our appointments at the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital as our twins were very high risk. Around week 20, we were told to prepare ourselves to be ready to fly to Toronto for a special type of inutero surgery that might be required to save one of our babies. Luckily, we got to stay here is Saskatoon, but we were then met with another set of challenges - one of our little babes wasn't growing as fast as he should. We started getting ultrasounds every couple of days and were prepared to deliver our twins every time we stepped into that hospital. At 32 weeks and 1 day, our babies needed to be earthside. Born via c-section by an amazing team of maternal fetal medicine surgeons, our little guys made it! The babes, Nico + Holden, spent a total of 77 days combined in the NICU. They are just about 2 years old and they are happy, healthy, and testing the patience of mom + dad daily.

Janel Edwards Grew up in Saskatoon and has spent most of her life here. She moved to Toronto for college and earned a diploma in Entertainment Business Management. After exploring the world of live entertainment and working for various record labels and tours including Glee LIVE on Tour, The Tragically Hip, The Sam Roberts Band, and Edgefest, she decided to plant her roots back home. Since moving back home, Janel has completed another educational diploma in the field of Youth Mental Health. She has used this education to build strong connections within different agencies in the city allowing her to work with a multitude of people with different backgrounds, needs, and various levels of access to services.

Janel is married to the love of her life + forever bestie, Skylar, an Electronics Engineer Technologist with an app development side hustle. They love a cozy night in, traveling, and hanging out with their babes!


If you would like to be a part of The Little Locals Fund, fill in the form below and put BOARD OF DIRECTORS or FUNDRAISING TEAM in the comment section

The Little Locals Fund + The Holding Space

The Little Locals Fund

The community support our shop has spearheaded over the past 3 years has grown to the point where it needs it’s own name!

The Little Local Fund is our new non-profit organization that will continue to maintain and grow our community support and initiatives. Up until April 2025, the free parent programming, drop off depot, agency communication, etc have all been financed and facilitated by the owner and team members of Reclaim MBK. Due to the volume of labour and resources required to continue and grow these efforts, a non-profit was founded to facilitate the snow ball of growth and funding needed to ensure long term success.

The back offices of Reclaim MBK are being renovated into a community space that will accommodate our free parenting meet up groups, volunteer programs, and will be available for other community groups and classes to use. That same space will also be the new home for our donation hub. 

The Holding Space will be a place to gather, to learn, to collect, and hold space for each other. As part of our commitment to sustainability and accessibility, The Little Locals Fund will help break down the stigma and social construct of either being someone who donates, or someone who needs donations - instead, we can all be someone who helps their community thrive and reduces environmental impact.

The Donation Hub → The Holding Space:

The donation hub is going through a transition of its own. We work with so many agencies and community outreach groups that are stretched incredibly thin supporting our friends and neighbors who are facing any number of barriers including housing/food insecurity, family crisis, addictions, lack of mental health support etc. While these agencies rely heavily on donations of anything from socks to sleeping bags, the sorting, storing, and database management is extremely time consuming. Along side our community agencies and in alignment with our commitment to sustainability, our donation hub is currently undergoing the transition to a trading post style of operating. 

We will accept any and all donations outlined in our donation hub list. These donations will be sorted, catalogued, and stored in The Holding Space. Community agencies will be able to access The Holding Space at their convenience to pick up the items they need for their clientele WHEN they need it with an open door policy. The donations received by The Holding Space will also be available to the general public in exchange for volunteer hours for those able to give their time and a subscription model for those able to give financially.

Karma Points + The Holding Space:

Volunteers who spend supporting The Little Locals Fund will earn Karma Points that can be used towards any items donated to The Holding Space. Community members who choose a subscription to The Holding Space are able to redeem their Karma points the same way as our volunteers - subscription holders can reload their karma card as much as they want to between monthly subscription top ups if they want to access more. 

Karma Points:

Karma Points can be earned through volunteering your time with The Little Locals Fund or through the redemption of Reclaim Rewards - the loyalty program of Reclaim MBK. 

Karma Points can be purchased and added to your Karma Kard at anytime if you wish to access more items from The Holding Space. 

Karma Points have no cash value, are non-transferable, and cannot be used towards the purchase of products sold by Reclaim MBK.

We are currently in Phase I of our non-profit creation:

Phase I:

  • Policies, board of directors, and bylaws are being created
  • Renovation and floor plans are being finalized
  • Funding + grant requests
  • Wholesale Little Locals proposals are sent to retailers province wide

Phase II:

  • Renovation completion
  • Booking schedule opens
  • Karma Kards activate + Subscription Opens

Phase III:

  • The Holding Space is fully funded + operational
  • The Little Locals Fund employs 4 full time employees
  • The Little Locals clothing + family lifestyle brand is carried by 10+ retailers in AB/SK/MB