While the Warehouse Project is a fully fledged non-profit today, back in 2010 it was simply a dream, conceptualized by Kirby and Fiona de Lanerolle as a community empowerment initiative that they hoped would better the lives of the community living in and around the Tripoli Market area in Maradana, Sri Lanka. With the provision of various initiatives including after-school tuition, free meals, English classes, health clinics, dance and drama workshops, computer skills courses, and job placements, within a short period of time the community was changing in positive ways and at a faster pace than anyone planned for. Over 1400 households in the area were impacted at the time. 13 years later, the initial project is still running but under the name the Tripoli Market Initiative.