Strategic Initiatives 2012-2015

In May of last year, the Board of Directors set the following objectives for strategic initiatives for the next three years. We will be working towards:
• An effective, proactive communication strategy
• An expansion of our housing base
• A financially self-sustaining society
• Increased environmental initiatives on the properties

Mole Hill Community Housing Society would like to thank the City of Vancouver for their support of the society’s request to replace 9 diseased cherry trees on the 1100 block of Pendrell Street with Big Leaf Maples (Acer macrophyllums).

Mole Hill is located in the heart of Vancouver’s West End, in the city block directly behind St. Paul’s Hospital. The community consists of 28 restored Victorian and Edwardian homes, the oldest, most intact and fully restored square block of heritage houses in the city of Vancouver. The big leaf maples are a very appropriate complement to Mole Hill’s heritage character, as these are the type of native species street trees that would have been planted originally in this historic neighbourhood. When mature, their grand scale will provide a gracious setting for this historic community.

Thank you to Drew Gilchrist, Superintendent of Arboriculture and Bill Stephen, Acting City Arborist, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation for their willingness to make this happen and to long time Mole Hill advocates Donald Luxton, President of the Heritage Vancouver Society, Sean McEwen, Mole Hill Design Architect and Blair Petrie, Mole Hill founding member, for their lobbying efforts on behalf of the society.

“Its a fantastic reversal in attitude and long overdue, as we are concerned about the long-term erosion of Vancouver’s historic tree canopy. It is only noticeable over time, and if we don’t act now to plant larger trees we could decimate our historic urban forest.”
Donald Luxton, President, Vancouver Heritage Society

Mole Hill will be hosting a “Seasonal Celebration” on Saturday, December 15, 2012 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Mole Hill Community Room at the back of 1157 Pendrell Street (entrance off the back lane). Please come, bring a dish to share and help us celebrate this important time of year! The Mole Hill Staff and Board of Directors would like to wish all of our tenants, their families and our community neighbours and partners a very safe and happy Christmas Season and New Year! Thank you for your on-going contributions to the success of the Mole Hill Community Housing Society.

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: