Moving More Than Auction Items: How PALS and Two Small Men Built a Meaningful Community Partnership

For nearly two decades, PALS Autism Society has been building something much bigger than a school. Serving children and youth with autism from kindergarten through age 21, the organization provides education, therapies, recreation, and year-round support for families who often need far more than a traditional classroom can offer.

As Executive Director Andrea Kasunic explained, “PALS is an independent school for children and youth with autism. We provide education and therapies and recreational activities that go above and beyond what’s available to families in the regular school system.”

Kasunic has been part of that mission for almost 17 years. What was originally supposed to be a short-term move from Ontario became a life-changing commitment. “Back in 2009, I applied for the job and packed up and moved across the country to work there,” she said. “It was supposed to be a two-year contract. And then here we are—17 years later.”

Over those years, PALS has evolved alongside the needs of the families it serves. The organization expanded from a small adapted office space in East Vancouver into a permanent four-storey facility in New Westminster in 2019. “We used to be in a small office building in East Vancouver that we adapted for our needs,” Kasunic recalled. “But we were always outgrowing it.” Today, she describes the current building as “a four-story, beautiful home that we can call our own.”

Growth like that does not happen alone. Like many non-profit organizations, PALS depends heavily on community partnerships, volunteers, donors, and local businesses willing to step in and help where they can. One of those long-running partnerships has been with Two Small Men with Big Hearts. Each year, PALS hosts a major gala fundraiser featuring more than 200 silent auction items donated by supporters throughout the community.

Coordinating the transportation of those items safely and efficiently is a massive logistical challenge. Kasunic explained that the organization was searching for a moving company they could trust with items that had often taken months to collect.

“We were looking for a way to safely and securely and efficiently transport the items,” she said. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to those 200 items that we spent the last year accumulating and gathering from our supporters.”

That search eventually led them to Two Small Men with Big Hearts.

“They offered to help us free of charge, and we just couldn’t believe it,” Kasunic said. “We had to ask several times: Is there really no fees? Are you legit?”

What began as a one-time act of support turned into an ongoing relationship built on reliability and trust. According to Kasunic, the consistency of that support has become invaluable to the organization year after year.

“They were so amazing to work with that first year,” she said. “And just each year after that, we’ve been holding our breath and hoping that we’d be able to continue the partnership.”

For non-profits operating with limited resources, community partnerships are rarely just about convenience. They create breathing room. They reduce moving stress. Most importantly, they allow staff to focus on the people who need them most.

“Time is always money,” Kasunic explained. “Knowing that we have a company that we trust and don’t need to research other providers and get quotes… just knowing we have Two Small Men on speed dial saves us a lot of time and stress.”

At PALS, nearly every staff member wears multiple hats. Administrative tasks are often handled by the same people who work directly with students throughout the day. That means every hour saved on logistics becomes an hour returned to the classroom, to student support, or to family programming.

“Our staff all wear multiple hats,” Kasunic said. “The people that are organizing furniture moving and auction item moving and transport, they’re all doing other jobs within the school as well, mostly supporting the students.”

She added, “Anytime that they’re not spent doing admin tasks, they get to put towards being on the floor with the kids.”

That idea — community support creating more opportunities for direct care — sits at the heart of the partnership between PALS and Two Small Men with Big Hearts. The moving trucks themselves may only appear during gala season, but the impact stretches much further. Reliable logistical support helps fuel fundraising efforts, and those fundraising efforts help sustain specialized programming for children and youth throughout the year.

One of the most unique aspects of PALS is that the school remains active during the summer months. Rather than shutting down in July and August, the organization transforms into a camp-style environment filled with field trips, special guests, and recreational activities designed to keep students engaged while continuing to build on learning goals from the school year.

“We’re a year-round school,” Kasunic explained. “In July and August, we turn the school into more of a camp-like experience for the students.”

Those programs rely heavily on donations and fundraising support because summer programming is not funded through the provincial education system.

“All those activities are only possible through donations,” she said. “We’ll be accepting donations to help support the field trips, special activities, and special guests that we have coming to keep the students having fun during the summer and not feeling like they’re still at school.”

For Kasunic, the partnership ultimately comes down to something simple: people helping people.

“The support for a non-profit has been really integral to helping us meet our fundraising goals,” she said.

And after years of working together, her gratitude remains obvious.

“We really appreciate working with Two Small Men."