For the past 13+ years, Mint Records has been headquartered in the Dominion Building in Vancouver. In other words, for the past 13+ years, Mint Records has been neighbours with what is commonly known as the Downtown Eastside, or also recognized as the poorest postal code in Canada. We've long considered the fact that we are mere visitors to the area (in more ways than one), there to do work, then eventually vacating the area until the next day, and have often wondered about all the hundreds of people who call the DTES home, and who can't leave like we can, and who face a daily at-risk reality whose depths we can only fathom to imagine.
It was with this in mind that we thought that we should put our money where our mouth is, and contribute in some fashion to the PHS Community Services Society -- namely by turning the Mint Records Xmas nights at the Railway into PHS benefits.
The PHS Community Services Society is a nonprofit society that manages a number of social housing projects in the Downtown Eastside, including the Portland Hotel, where several members of local musical groups have worked and work, providing support, services, and resources to its residents and other high-risk individuals in the community.
Coco Culbertson of Mint Records' The Choir Practice was a key figure in the Portland Hotel Society, and she had this to say: "The PHS has done incredible amounts of good for the community. I could go on and on about the groundbreaking, tireless and innovative accomplishments for the most voiceless and marginal that the PHS is fiercely committed to....but i will just say PHS rocks. Good choice."