I have resigned from my position as the Executive Director of Mole Hill effective December 6, 2013. On December 9, 2013 I will start my new job as the Executive Director of the Nisga’a Ts’amiks Vancouver Society. I am very excited about this wonderful opportunity, as one of my goals has been to work with the First Nations Community and in particular with children and families.

The decision to leave Mole Hill has been an extremely difficult one, due to my passion for Mole Hill and my love for the community. Mole Hill is a unique and wonderful society that I am very proud to have been a part of over the last five years. It will always hold a special place in my heart and I will consider myself to be a “Friend of Mole Hill” for a long time to come.

Sincere and warm wishes,

Margot Beauchamp
Executive Director

Mole Hill Community Housing Society
Is appealing to the community for stories, photographs, articles or other memorabilia about the Mole Hill Block.

A long awaited project at Mole Hill is now underway!

Providing heritage signage was a planned project when the housing development was renovated over 12 years ago. Now, due to a generous grant from the Heritage Legacy Fund, the heritage information about each of the 27 houses will be erected on the (10) mail kiosks that were built for this purpose and surround the Mole Hill block.

A community square/streetscape sign will also to be constructed for information about the social history of how the block was saved and acknowledgements of the many involved in the project. In so doing, the public will have equal access to this very important historical information.

The project team is soliciting stories and other information about the Mole Hill block so that the presentation includes a human component as well as the heritage information.

Please give Margot Beauchamp a call at 604-681-2096, email to mbeauchamp@mole-hill.ca or mail your information to 1169 Pendrell Street (rear), Vancouver, BC, V6E !L3

Thank you!

Please welcome Gabriela Peever who has been hired as the new cleaner at Mole Hill. Gabriela was here over the summer months and is very glad to be back. Many thanks to Bobbie Cai for his hard work as the Mole Hill Cleaner over many years.

Clodagh Ni Chearbhaill has returned to Ireland and we welcome Kathy Flood who has been hired as new the Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper. Kathy will be in the office from Tuesday to Friday for part-time hours. Her first day of work will be on Tuesday, November 19, 2013. A big thank you to Angela Quiambao for filling in on a temporary basis.

Mole Hill held a very successful Annual General Meeting on Thursday, September 27, 2012 that was attended by approximately 30 members. We began the meeting with awarding nine Mole Hill tenants “Good Neighbour Awards’ for their help and support of other tenants in the development who required assistance or simply for being a cheerful and helpful addition to the neighbourhood. Those who were awarded are: Katherine Barkley, Carellin Brooks, Dianne Doe, Hans Esser, Jim Mitchell, Dee Moss, Greg Pond, Helen Thibert and Chet Woolford. A warm thank you to all of them for contributing to the “neighbourliness” of Mole Hill.

The membership went on the accept the reports from the Chair of the Board, the Treasurer and the Auditor, Dave Van Gruen from Galloway, Botteselle and Company who have been elected as auditors for the society for the coming year. We are very happy to welcome newly acclaimed board members Virginia Bird, Gayle Hadfield and Bruce MacDonald and past board members Nitin Madhvani and Ewa Gersin. The board would like to express deep appreciation for departing board members Elizabeth Kemp, Joshua Lovelace and Doug Tomkinson.

We look forward to an exciting year of working together.

Mole Hill Community Gardeners Celebrate 10 Years!

On Saturday, August 11, 2012 the Mole Hill and West End Resident’s Association (WERA) Community Gardeners celebrated their 10-year anniversary.

Everyone enjoyed great food and conversation as well as wonderful entertainment provided by Mike Phelan. Over 60 people attended – community gardeners and Mole Hill neighbours, as well as representatives from Gordon Neighbourhood House and the Vancouver Foundation who made the event possible through a grant from the “Neighbourhood Small Grants” Program.

Thank you to Katherine Barkley, Twon Klawer, Jim Mitchell, Dalyce Epp (WERA) and other organizers who made this event possible!

Finally summer is here and it appears the wait was worth it, as we enjoy some long, warm, sunny days. As usual, Mole Hill is hopping with lots of activities and great events!

This spring, we saw the installation of community compost bins for Mole Hill tenants. After training with compost guru Spring Gillard, we are now well underway and have already filled one of the bins. Our project is considered to be an “onsite/onsite/onsite” system – the best for the environment as it doesn’t involve using any fossil fuels to truck the food scraps off the site or to have the good stuff brought back. We look forward to using the lovely earth in the spring for the many beds at Mole Hill. We would like to thank Vancity, Community Projects for making this activity possible!

We are happy to report that the nasty “plant poisoning” that was taking place at Mole Hill seems to have stopped. We are asking everyone at Mole Hill and in the community to keep an eye out and report any suspicious activity to the Mole Hill office or to the police. Posting signs throughout the property seems to have helped but we’re asking everyone to remain vigilant.

The Mole Hill Produce Box Club has taken off this year and I would like to thank Carellin Brooks for all of her efforts with getting this project going. The club is always looking for new members, so if you are interested in participating in this great opportunity for fresh veggies email Carellin at carelllinb@hotmail.com

Congratulations to Katherine Barkley and Carellin Brooks for being the successful recipients of Neighbourhood Small Grants from Gordon Neighbourhood House and the Vancouver Foundation. Katherine Barkley will be organizing a “Community Gardeners Ten Year Anniversary Celebration” on August 11th and Carellin Brooks, from The Mole Hill Produce Box Club received funding for a possible expansion to wholesale free-range and/or organic meats, direct-from-farm produce or other enhancements.

We will be painting 4 more houses this summer, giving the laundry room a makeover, painting the mail kiosks and repairing some of the porches. We are anxiously awaiting a property and systems assessment report from BC Housing that was conducted this spring, which will hopefully result in some additional funding for needed upgrades.

Thanks to our great Board of Directors and membership, we passed a new updated Constitution/Bylaws in May and we now have a Strategic Plan in place to direct us for the next several years. Watch for upcoming news about our Annual General Meeting to be held in September.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 604-681-2096 or email to mbeauchamp@mole-hill.ca

Thank you!

Margot Beauchamp, Executive Director

Mole Hill is having the annual lane sale event happening on

The sign-up sheet is available in the laundry room for tenants who want to participate. Also, we are collecting donation items for the Charity Table. If you have any questions or items to donate for the lane sale please contact Matthew Oliver at the office at (604) 687-1145.

Mole Hill is happy to share the results of the 2012 Tenant Survey, along with the results of a survey of “Public Open Spaces” in and around Mole Hill,
conducted by Joshua Welsh, University of British Columbia (UBC) Master’s Student in the School of Landscape Architecture. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

Margot Beauchamp, Executive Director 604-681-2096 mbeauchamp@mole-hill.ca

Mole Hill Tenant Survey Tenant Survey 2012 Publication
Public Open Spaces Survey Public Open Spaces Survey

Mole Hill Community Housing Society
Upcoming Spring Events!

“TENANT MEETING”
Wednesday May 2, 2012
7:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Come and hear about the filming project for Mole Hill and meet Jim Karmann, our new Film Liaison.

8:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Nitin Madhvani, Board Chair will present the planned revisions to the Mole Hill By-laws and Constitution – why we need the changes and what they are.
The changes will not be adopted at this meeting.

“COMPOSTING WORKSHOPS”
with author and composting expert
SPRING GILLARD

SATURDAY, MAY 5TH 10 to 11:30 am
or
WEDNESDAY MAY 23, 6:30 TO 8:00 pm

Attendance at one of the workshops is mandatory if you want to compost!
PLEASE REGISTER AT 604-681-2096

“SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING”

WEDNESDAY MAY 30TH, 2012
7:00 PM TO 9:00 PM
For all current members of the Mole Hill
Community Housing Society

To adopt the new bylaws and constitution

The City is getting ready to launch a 18-21 month community planning process for the West End in mid-April. As part of this process, they are starting to work with leaders in the West End to establish a Neighbourhood Champions Network (NCN). This Network will assist with community outreach around the community plan with direct action on their own to ensure the involvement of diverse groups in the process. The NCN creates an open and flexible opportunity for interested citizens to take a part in supporting and improving the engagement process during the West End Community Plan development.

The Network will help City staff:
* identify popular places, ideal dates/times, and even engagement tactics that are likely to be effective in the neighbourhood, especially for hard to reach groups
* offer outreach vehicles (newsletters, contacts list, etc.) to help spread the word about engagement opportunities
* actively encourage community networks to take part in public engagement opportunities
* provide support for people to take part, anything from giving someone a ride to an event to showing someone how to submit an online survey or offering translation services
* take a leadership role by actively participating in public engagement opportunities, and
* help identify and fill gaps in representation.

If you would like to join Mole Hill in any of these activities, please contact Margot Beauchamp, Executive Director mbeauchamp@mole-hill.ca

For more information about the West End Community Plan check here:
The Terms of Reference for the West End Plan can be found here: