Empty Storage Fund – Accountants Use Christmas Carol’s Uplifting Redemption Story To Raise Funds

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Every year for a quarter of a century, Wayne Kuyer has transformed into Jacob Marley from Victorian English author Charles Dickens’s famous Christmas Carol to collect money for those who need help at this time of year.

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He and his former business partner, Stephen de Verteuil, who played Ebenezer Scrooge, came up with the idea of ​​wearing period costumes while soliciting funds from other businesses in their Langley neighborhood.

De Verteuil sadly died in 2002, and Kuyer has been hanging out with a new partner, Bob Cratchit, also known as his fellow CPA and son-in-law, Kyle Murray.

“Here at Scrooge & Marley’s ‘House of Counting,’ we begin each holiday season with renewed efforts to make Christmas happier for the less fortunate within our community,” reads the notice that Kuyer and Associates sends out earlier, on a letterhead that looks like an old parchment scroll.

“This will be our 26th year! As the pandemic continues, the need has never been greater! Please help us fill some closets and bring a little Christmas cheer, ”she says.

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This year and last, COVID-19 has prevented the disguised couple from physically making the rounds to collect donations for the province’s Empty Stock Fund, but they occasionally visit some of the regular donors.

“We somewhat moderated our expectations for our total giving last year, but it was actually our best year,” Kuyer said.

They normally raise around $ 21,000 and last year’s total was $ 27,000. That was in part thanks to a donor who made a “pretty attractive donation,” he said.

The company and its generous donors have contributed $ 104,620 to the Empty Stock Fund over 25 years, about a third of the total it raised overall.

Murray has disguised himself as the humble and caring Cratchit clerk for five years, and he loves doing it.

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“People are excited to see us and it definitely helps if we go in person” to get people involved in charitable giving, he said. It helps you both get into giving season.

“It’s nice to be able to help if you can,” Kuyer said.

They hope their annual tradition will inspire other offices or businesses to come up with their own theme and raise funds.

“I’ve always found the Christmas season to be something special and this allows me to see people” that I may not see right now, except during the donation drive, Kuyer said. “I really enjoy that we go to the offices.”

Province Empty Stocking Fund helps dozens of smaller charities throughout BC and is now in its 103rd year of fundraising.