As neighbourhood houses throughout the Lower Mainland prepare to celebrate Neighbourhood House Week—this year running from April 29 to May 5—one in Vancouver is getting ready to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a fundraising gala and Chinese feast.

Little Mountain Neighbourhood House (3981 Main Street) got its start in 1978. “It’s really been an anchor and a hub of the community since day one,” LMNH executive director Joel Bronstein tells the Straight. “It’s the living room of the community.”

Like the Lower Mainland’s other 14 neighbourhood houses, LMNH is a multigenerational, multi-ethnic place that offers a range of free or low-cost social, educational, cultural, and recreational services, from child care and seniors programs to settlement programs for newcomers to Canada.

Food-security initiatives are also in place at LMNH, which serves some 50,000 central Vancouver residents. “Sometimes in this neighbourhood, there’s a perception that people are well off, but certainly there are pockets of that community that are food-insecure,” Bronstein says. “For many years, we’ve offered programs that help provide some security.”

Examples include a congregate meal program for seniors, which not only ensures they get a healthy meal but also helps address social isolation, and workshops on sustainable food practices, such as canning. The Little Mountain house also has a community garden, where plots are shared by groups of people, including Syrian refugees. Master gardeners teach people tangible skills, while many participants will cook together in a kitchen program using ingredients they grow themselves.

“We want to look at the garden as a community-building opportunity,” Bronstein says.

To mark Neighbourhood House Week and its 40th birthday, LMNH is hosting a celebration dinner at Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant (3888 Main Street) on May 2.

The evening will feature a multicourse Chinese feast, live music, a silent auction, and a live cake auction. More details and tickets, $75 (a portion of which is tax-deductible), are available here.

Other regional neighbourhood houses will be putting on a range of events during the weeklong event. On May 2 alone, there’s a free community lunch at the North Shore Neighbourhood House (225 East 2nd Avenue, North Vancouver), a community barbecue at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (800 East Broadway), a community potluck at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House (2305 West 7th Avenue), and a South Hill mingler at the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House’s newest location (5888 Fraser Street).

More information about neighbourhood houses and Neighbourhood House Week are at Your Neighbourhood House.