Fernwood NRG Annual Report 2014 by Fernwood NRG

Annual Report 2014

A Word from the Chair ››

014 was another great year in Fernwood! Fernwood NRG was happy to play its part with both on-going events and new initiatives. In addition to our fabulously fun FernFest weekend in June and sprucing up neighbourhood poles in September, these are a few other highlights that aren’t as apparent to all. The development project at 1310 G ladstone Avenue is moving through

the development process; it’s slow but we hope to break ground late this year or early next. We have been canvassing neighbours in the past few months and finding strong support for the proposal which is both very e ncouraging and c ritical to the ultimate success of the project. While the Gladstone project is large and complex, it has not taken our focus away from other core aspects of our work. In September we opened a Before and After School Care Program focused on serving families at George Jay School. Both the school strike and the temporary closure of George Jay for seismic upgrading got in the way of filling this program this year but we anticipate being full in S eptember 2015. That will bring our total child care spaces to 65, up from 45 spaces in p revious years. It will also mean that neighbourhood children can be cared for in the neighbourhood from before their first steps until they are old enough to walk home and let themselves in after school. The tremendous attendance at our

Lisa Matthaus

weekly Family Dinner program at the Community Centre through the past year demonstrated that there is both a real need for food security in the neighbourhood as well as a strong desire for social connection between families, especially those with young children. On average, over 100 people (adults and c hildren) attended each week through the year, adding up to more than 5,000 meals for neighbourhood families. This program is only partly covered by donations from those who attend and generous food donations from corporate partners like Cold Star Freight Systems. If you would like to help us by sponsoring this program for a week, a month, or even the whole year, please give us a call at 250-381-1552 ext.107. There are few better investments in the future of our neighbourhood than enabling families with young children to sit together and build community over a shared meal. In part based on the real need we see at the Family Dinner, we expanded our Give the Gift of Good Food donation

program just before Christmas. Unlike many Christmas donation programs that provide a one-time seasonal gift to families in need, we wanted to provide year-long support to families with a biweekly Good Food Box. With generous support from individuals, offices and businesses across the region (and even some from out of town!), we raised over $11,000 and are able to support 24 families in Fernwood this year with a Good Food Box every two weeks. We will be running the donation program again this year and hope to make it bigger still, as we know there are many more families in Fernwood that would benefit immensely from such a gift. All of our hardworking staff, v olunteers, and our members, donors and supporters can be proud of what we’ve achieved as an organization in 2014. All of us on the Board of Fernwood NRG look forward to seeing you at FernFest again this year to help celebrate the dynamic, creative and welcoming neighbourhood we’re all building together! 2014 Annual Report page 1

Report on our Principles & Values 2014 In 2005, Fernwood NRG adopted our Declaration of Principles & Values which has guided our work since then. The following report outlines how our efforts in the past year have advanced these principles and values on behalf of the neighbourhood.

WE are committed to creating a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable neighbourhood.

One measure of sustainability is longevity. The longer something has been around, the longer it is likely to stay around. And if you’ve been around for a long time, it’s likely you’ve figured out at least some of the elements of sustainability. That’s why the Vatican, Oxford University and other institutions that have been around for centuries will be around for centuries longer. At Fernwood NRG, we aren’t centuries old, nor do we aim to be as venerable as those places just mentioned, but it is worth noting that our o rganization turned 35 in 2014. We were founded in 1979 as the Fernwood Community Centres Management Group. We changed our name to the Fernwood Community Centre Society in 1984, and again to the Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group Society in 2006. The original purpose of the group was to manage and set policies for neighbourhood facilities, including the Fernwood Community Centre at 1240 Gladstone Avenue. That focus narrowed in 1984 to focus on just one facility (the Fernwood Community Centre), until we broadened it again in 2006, to take account of the fact we were branching out into the neighbourhood through the acquisition of the Cornerstone Building. And since then, we’ve built more affordable housing at Park Place on Yukon Street, and we’ve acquired two more opportunities to build Fernwood’s future at 1310 Gladstone Avenue and 2009 Fernwood Road. While we have not yet secured the rezoning, we hope you support our vision of adding mixed use (options for affordable housing, offices, and commercial space) to the core of Fernwood village. A few more shops, offices and apartments will help make Fernwood a truly walkable neighbourhood where more of us can meet our daily needs without getting in the car. And that is another step toward our long term sustainability.

In 2013/14, Fernwood NRG ran a surplus of $44,258. Overall, our income grew 1.6% but the mix of revenues changed to include less reliance on grants and more reliance on program income and revenue from our properties. Overall grant dependence dropped five percentage points from 35% in 2012/2013 to 30% in 2013/2014. This trend toward decreased grant dependence will continue into the foreseeable future, as governments and foundations continue to tighten while we diversify our revenues away from these unpredictable and unreliable sources. When our financial statements for the nine month period ending December 31st, 2014 are ready, they will be available at http://goo.gl/rVqeFU. Our financial statements for the 2013/14 fiscal year are available at http://goo.gl/ NjmJMH.

In the past fiscal year, Fernwood NRG purchased 1310 Gladstone Avenue and 2009 Fernwood Road. We added $1.11 million of assets with the purchase of the new properties, and our net assets grew by $44,258. Although our outstanding debt grew by $1.04 million in order to purchase the properties, in the past fiscal year we retired $62,716 in principal on our m ortgages and long term debt. In 2014, plans commenced to redevelop 1310 Gladstone as a mixed use building which will add two commercial spaces, and four small offices or apartments in the core of Fernwood village. We have no immediate page 2 2014 Annual Report

plans to redevelop 2009 Fernwood Road as it is currently leased to the M’akola Group of Societies. Our financial statements for the nine month period ending December 31 st, 2014 are not yet available (our members approved changing our financial year end to December 31st and we are working with our outside reviewer to complete our review at a different time than in the past). When they are complete, they will be available at http://goo.gl/rVqeFU. Our financial statements for the twelve month period ending March 31st, 2014 are available at http://goo.gl/NjmJMH.

WE are committed to the creation and support of neighbourhood employment.

Fernwood NRG employed 88 people in 2014, including 35 people in full-time positions. The combined payroll of the Society and the Company that operates the Cornerstone Café and Studio 1313 was $1.16 million in 2013/14.

5 WE are committed to ensuring neighbourhood control or ownership of neighbourhood institutions and assets.

WE are committed to using our resources prudently and to becoming financially self-reliant.

WE are committed to engaging the dreams, resources, and talents of our neighbours and to fostering new links between them.

Over the course of several weekends in the spring, we transformed the gardens in front of the Fernwood Community Centre (1240 Gladstone Avenue) from a bed of overgrown ornamental plants to a permanent edible garden including raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, honeyberries, grapes, a peach tree, kiwis, and many other fruits, herbs and seasonal vegetables. The fourth pole-painting day held in September of 2014 was also a great success. We gave away more than 100 pole-painting kits to decorate another 100 utility poles in Fernwood and beyond, and sent a crew from Fernwood NRG around the neighbourhood to touch up poles that needed attention. Throughout 2014, every second

ednesday morning, 15 volunteers W gathered at the Fernwood Community Centre to pack and distribute roughly 200 Good Food boxes of fruits and vegetables to folks across the region. In November, we completed our new online ordering system which will enable the program to grow across the region. We work with other community partner agencies which act as pick-up locations for boxes packed in Fernwood. The program also raised $11,000 in December through our Give the Gift of Good Food campaign to support 24 families in F ernwood with a bi-weekly Good Food Box for 2015. This is just a small sample of the p rojects we undertook in 2014 to engage Fernwoodians and to create more connections between neighbours.

WE are committed to taking action in response to neighbourhood issues, ideas, and initiatives.

Last year, unfortunately, the biggest issue that arose in the neighbourhood was the negative activity that was going on at Spring Ridge Common (see “The tragedy of the Common(s),” in the August Village Vibe). Fernwood NRG was put in a difficult situation between respecting the wishes of the volunteers who had been maintaining the site, and respecting the legitimate needs of the neighbours for a safe and attractive space across from their homes. Ultimately, the immediate neighbours took action before Fernwood NRG to prune the vegetation on the site to make it safer for everyone. We responded afterward by clearing away the mountain of brush. We have also created a small honorarium for a caretaker to ensure the site is better maintained and being put only to healthier uses. We organized a large neighbourhood meeting in November which was attended by roughly 70 people to discuss the issues at the site. We are following up in 2015 with a further m eeting to discuss long term changes to the design and objectives of the site so that hopefully the Common will be a benefit to all who live in the neighbourhood in the coming years.

WE are committed to focusing on the future while preserving our neighbourhood’s heritage and diversity.

In 2014, we were busy preparing plans for the redevelopment of 1310 Gladstone Avenue. In particular, we want to create a mixed use building that will be as timelessly functional as the Cornerstone building which is now 100 years old. We know that our new building will likely stand for at least that long too (hopefully even longer), so we knew we had to get the design right. We settled on a design that we think will blend in well with the neighbourhood, featuring brick on the exterior, and window openings with the same shape and design as the existing buildings in the core of the village. However, we will also be incorporating modern accents and the latest in energy efficient technology to ensure the building is also economical to run in the long term. We believe we have struck a good balance between creating a new building, and creating one that fits in well in a historic neighbourhood. As we ultimately move toward the construction phase, we will become even more focused on the fine details of the building which will ensure it is both beautiful and functional.

WE are committed to governing our organization and serving our neighbourhood democratically with a maximum of openness, inclusivity and kindness.

Fernwood NRG’s membership is open to anyone 14 years old and older who lives in Fernwood. If you support our work and live in Fernwood, we would love to have you as a member! The Board of Directors of Fernwood NRG is drawn from the m embership, meaning Fernwood NRG is run by and for residents of Fernwood, and cannot be controlled by non-residents. There is no fee to join Fernwood NRG, so there is no financial barrier to membership. This is our sixth year of distributing our Annual Report through the Village Vibe so that it gets to every household in the neighbourhood. We want everyone in the neighbourhood to know how well we did in terms of delivering on our commitments to you in the past year.

WE are committed to developing the skills, capacity, self-worth, and excellence of our neighbours and ourselves.

Behind the scenes, all of the great events and activities Fernwood NRG organizes are supported by volunteers, including p acking the Good Food Box, o rganizing Pole Painting, staging FernFest and Fernwood Bites, preparing and planting the kitchen garden outside the c ommunity centre, to name a few. We couldn’t do any of these things without the willing support of nearly 100 people who help us through the year. Of course, we also have many regular volunteers at the Community Centre who help us with all of our regular programming, including the folks from Garth Homer who come every week to help with landscape maintenance and toy-washing. In the past year we’ve added a part-time position in volunteer coordination which

helped tremendously with the garden installation, the Good Food Box packing, FernFest, pole painting, and other events. Going forward, we will be building our base of volunteers which will mean many incredible projects become possible that would never happen if they could only be completed by paid staff. If you’re keen to help us continue the transformation of the neighbourhood, watch the notice boards, the Village Vibe and our website for volunteer opportunities. Or better yet, become a member of Fernwood NRG at www.fernwoodnrg.ca/fernwood-nrgget-involved/become-a-member/ (or

drop by our office at 1310 Gladstone Avenue) and tell us what skills you can offer as a volunteer.

WE are committed to creating neighbourhood places that are vibrant, beautiful, healthy, and alive.

Although we are a ways out from ultimately moving into a new building, we have already begun discussing what types of tenants will help with our commitment to a vibrant and healthy neighbourhood. We will look for tenants for the commercial spaces that will focus on serving the neighbourhood, and especially those who live

within walking distance, rather than those who will rely on attracting people from other neighbourhoods. This will ensure the building and its tenants are relevant to the neighbourhood, and that building becomes as loved by the neighbours as the Cornerstone building is today.

AND, most of all, WE are committed to having fun!

Planting a kitchen garden, Pole-Painting Day, FernFest and Fernwood Bites, partnering with the Fernwood Inn on Neighbours for Change, the Hallowe’en Bonfire… If this doesn’t sound like fun to you, we don’t know what would. Don’t miss out on the fun in 2015. Watch the Village Vibe, or www.fernwoodnrg.ca, or drop in at the Community Centre, or just come on down to the Cornerstone Café to find out what’s going on. FernFest once again celebrates the summer solstice (June 19th-20th) with family fun and live music. Fernwood Bites will be held June 21st in Fernwood Square. Mark your calendar now and watch for tickets to go on sale as it will sell out quickly. You won’t want to miss it! You can support our work by joining our organization (membership is free) at www. fernwoodnrg.ca/fernwood-nrg-get-involved/become-a-member/ or by making a donation www.fernwoodnrg.ca/donate/. 2014 Annual Report page 3

Our Staff Sarah Alpert

Kennedy Healey

Sadie Nielsen

Germaine Asplin

Shelley Heit

Sharon Policnick

Christian Baerike

Ashley Henderson

Yuri Pomeroy

Shonna Bell

Lee Herrin

Suzannah Randaschl

Kasper Boss-Moodie

Madelaine Hittos

Kirsty Rankin

Danica Boyce

Jennifer Hunter

Lenore Rankin

Jamie Bryon

Asia Jacob

Shanti Richardson

Heather Cadieux

Katherine Jacobs

Andrea Robertson

Joshua Casey

Bailey Jensen

Tina Robinson

Abby Cronk

Andrea Johnston

Jacqueline Rogers

Kristin Crossman

Patrick Jupe

Kari-Anne Sawatsky

Ashleigh Cyr

Kathryn Juricic

Jan Estelle Simonsen

Mila Czemerys

Sara Kasserman

Sean Solberg

Emily Dickson

Renee Kennedy

Kaori St Cyr

Jesse Douglas

Sarah Laxton-Scott

Nathan Sun

Lanna Duffy

Vanessa MacLean

Judy Swanston

Claire Eide

Shannon Martin

Alysa Marie Thomas

Chloe Elias

Thom McCann

Kari Thoresen

Greg Enkel

Camille McElroy

Kathleen Unfreed

Carina Foran

Patricia Minor

Sally White

Paula DeBeck

Julie Anne Gilchrist

Jill Moran

Caitlin Wynne

Michael Lancaster

Current Board Members

Sarah Amyot Geoff Cross Caitlin Davies

Lisa Matthaus Kelsey Singbeil Matt Takach Amy Zidulka

Outgoing Board Member

Andrea Scott