As Cameron Laker sits in his plush new office at the corner of Columbia and East Cordova, he glances out his window to spy a couple shooting heroin in the alley below him.
It’s a common occurrence, he says. Laker – the CEO of high-tech recruitment firm Mindfield – moved his company’s headquarters to a renovated heritage building in Gastown in March.
The renovated brick-and-beam building features three floors of glass offices and comes complete with the requisite foosball and ping pong tables. The office also sits directly across the street from the Salvation Army, in an area rife with open drug use.
“It’s very real down here, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” he says.
While Gastown has become one of Vancouver’s most desirable neighbourhoods in recent years – home to the city’s hottest restaurants, bars, and boutiques – it remains on the doorstep of the Downtown Eastside.
Here, the city’s poorest citizens cross paths with the wealthiest.
However, Mindfield and other like-minded businesses that have recently moved into the neighbourhood are choosing not to ignore the crushing poverty and addiction they pass by everyday, but instead do something about it.
Laker says while Gastown has a lot to offer businesses – including easy transit access, relative affordability, and a creative, vibrant atmosphere – the area’s social issues shouldn’t be overlooked.
“That’s the neighbourhood we’re in,” he says. “But we don’t want to ignore it, we embrace it.”
Mindfield has instituted a company-wide program that sees employees provide lunch line support daily for the Salvation Army.
“It’s done wonderful things for employee engagement,” Laker says.
Mindfield’s office also features a beer and wine bar for employees and their friends. The booze isn’t free, however: Imbibers (at least, the ones who aren’t employees) must donate one pair of socks to partake.
“We’ve collected at least 1,000 pairs of socks since we moved in,” says Laker.
Mindfield is far from the only business in the neighbourhood that is giving back.
Restaurateur and so-called “Mayor of Gastown” Mark Brand launched the A Better Life Foundation in 2012 to help provide meals and job skills to those in need, setting the bar for other area business-owners.
Entertainment firm Blueprint – which moved into its new home on West Cordova last month – is also looking to give back.
Nate Sabine, Blueprint’s director of marketing, says the company is looking at setting up its own community outreach initiative.
While the company was attracted to Gastown by its creative energy, Sabine says the visible social issues need to be addressed.
“We’re all seeing it everyday,” he says. “You can’t just step around the problem. So we want to help in the most beneficial way we can.”
