A Building That Gives Itself Away
Returning Charity to the City of Mission.
What is the Hougen Block Project?
The Hougen Block project is a collaborative work led by Celebrate Charitable Foundation, New Heights Church and Hope Central. Located in the centre of Mission, the historical 3-story building, originally owned by the Hougen's, now serves as the physical location for a vision that extends to all kinds of different charitable work in the city of Mission.
“Imagine the power of profits from good property management serving as matching grants that invite people to double their charitable impact."
Greg Elford - Celebrate Foundation, Executive Administrator
Generosity + Building
The Vision of the HBP is to be a ‘generosity building’. We exist to promote, educate and model generous support to charities within our neighbourhood. This is accomplished by leveraging the profits from the 8 leaseholds within the building.
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The Hougen Block building was purchased in 2017, instigated by folks from New Heights Church (NHC). These folks wanted to explore the combination of social enterprise, community hall space, and work among the disenfranchised. Rather than build a church building to accomplish this, the buyers incorporated as a Charitable Foundation under the name Celebrate Foundation and purchased this central multi-use building. This eventually led to the creation of a medium sized community hall space, 2 store-fronts (one of which is a social enterprise) and 5 residential suites.
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Each year, the net income from Celebrate Foundation’s 8 leases in the Hougen Block Building serves as annual charitable donations and matching grants that promote like-minded charities, educate people around needs in Mission, and model generous giving.
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At the heart of the Hougen Block Project are several entities working together to achieve a greater vision. Celebrate Foundation is the primary conduit for generosity - being the funnel through which money is donated to different charities, and the owner of the physical asset (the Hougen Block). Celebrate is accompanied in their vision by New Heights Church, the Penny Coffee Shop, Hope Central, and a growing list of like-minded charities in Mission.
