VANCOUVER — When you arrive at Katie Grant’s apartment, you’ll likely be welcomed by walls filled from floor to ceiling with boxes. “This is my tiny, very, very crowded home,” Katie smiles, before showing how every room— from her dining area to her bedroom—is jam-packed with containers. “I know where everything is and I know what everything is.” But to appreciate what’s in the boxes, we need to go back to when Katie’s mom died, her marriage was ending, and she was diagnosed with cancer, all in the same month. “It was one disaster after another,” Katie says. And it felt like she had to face it all alone, until she met a bunch of volunteers who ensured she didn’t. “It feels pretty good that somebody cares,” Katie says. “(Especially) people you don’t know care.” Their selflessness proved so impactful, Katie felt compelled to pay their kindness forward, but was unsure how. “And then one day someone asked me, ‘Can you help me figure out where to get rid of (all my books?),’” Katie recalls. So, Katie made some calls on their behalf, found a charity that would benefit from the books, and delivered the donation. That led to doing the same with dishes, then clothes, and before she knew it, her apartment was full of all sorts of stuff. “It’s a monster project now,” Katie says, before show she schedules it all in a full calendar on her computer. Katie spends 60 hours a week (on top of working a full-time job) accepting things that people no longer need, organizing them at home into all those boxes, and delivering them to more than 40 organizations that support the less fortunate. As soon as she moves all the donated things out of her apartment, the boxes start filling up again. “The need is never-ending,” Katie says. “It’s exhausting.” Yet Katie has kept doing this for more than a decade because it’s also rewarding. And now that her cancer is in remission, Katie is feeling grateful for the opportunity to use this second chance at her life to make other’s lives better. “I don’t expect anything [in return],” Katie says. “I know I can make an impact, and I want to keep doing it for as long as I can.” Because although her apartment is packed, her heart is feeling even fuller. “If you really want to feel good,” Katie smiles. “Give yourself.”
