As you might be aware, our Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Society experienced a fire on Sunday July 2nd early in the morning at our 3981 Main Street facility, which caused significant damage to our offices and program spaces and consequently left us without a home base for an indeterminate amount of time; the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Fortunately, and more importantly, no one was injured during this incident as the neighbourhood house was closed at that time, for which we are incredibly grateful.
We would also like to sincerely thank the firefighters from Firehall Number 13: for their early response to the fire, keeping it contained to our building and being so kind, considerate, helpful and patient with us during such a stressful time.
As we begin to assess and decide on our next steps, we wanted to provide some immediate key information regarding our critical services; we will be updating this information on an ongoing basis as new developments emerge.
Some immediate key updates:
- Thriving Minds and LMNHS Summer Camps: we will be running our camps as scheduled, just at different locations closed by to the neighbourhood house. Families that have enrolled their children in our camps should be receiving a call soon with the new location address and other camp related details. Feel free to email cyservices@lmnhs.bc.ca if you have any questions.
- Community Fridge and Pantry: Unfortunately, the Community Fridge will be out of commission, as there is no power source available from the neighbourhood house. Unless an alternate location can be found, we are requesting community members to not leave food in the fridge for the time being. We will update you as soon as we can about the fridge.
- Food Distribution: Likewise, the Food Distribution program was greatly affected by the fire, and we are also looking for alternative locations to continue to provide food supports to the participants that come weekly to the program. Please email: fooddistribution@lmnhs.bc.ca if you have any questions.
- Friday Morning Family Drop-in: Our Family Drop-in space is also looking for a new temporary home. We will be in touch with families about this as soon as we can. Please email Shalynn for information at shalynnk@lmnhs.bc.ca
- Seniors Programs: Seniors programs will continue over the summer months as planned at off sites locations. Further information to follow.
- Settlement Services and September LINC Programming: There will be no interruption to one to one settlement services. They will now be offered online or by phone. Some very limited in person programs will be available at alternate locations. Further information to follow. In person LINC classes will continue in September as planned, locations to be confirmed.
We cannot thank you enough for your ongoing concern and support for our staff, participants and workspace as this will assist us in getting through this major setback. For now, please note that our office will remain closed and that the best way to reach us will be via email at info@lmnhs.bc.ca, with anticipated delays. We want to reassure everyone – participants, staff and community members, that we are working diligently to find alternate locations in the community to continue program delivery as soon as possible and that our fall programming WILL take place and more information will be provided.
We are looking forward to welcoming you back at the House soon!
LMNHS Staff
