Mayor Randy Hope, MPP Rick Nichols joined Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent executive director Donna Litwin Makey and the foundation’s executive director Mike Genge at their current Lark Street location on Thursday, August 23 to celebrate their 70th anniversary and unveil plans for a new building.
Members of the community and the families of children who have been helped by the Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent gathered at their location for an evening of reflection on Aug. 23 as they celebrated and looked back on 70 years of service together.
The centre started as a vision for one of its founding members, Joseph Johns, to help children with cerebral palsy, and today it continues to expand with the unveiling of plans for a new building.
Servicing approximately 3,000 people each year, the centre is looking to open up a new world of possibilities with a new two-storey building on McNaughton Avenue West.
Providing base services like occupational/physical therapy and audiology, the centre’s executive director Donna Litwin Makey said the new facility would take away barriers and go beyond the service to help develop life skills.
Litwin Makey, who has been at the centre for more than 30 years, said the support she has received has been overwhelming, receiving calls from families who wanted to get involved.
“Everyone is excited about the location, the growth, and being able to add things in the building they would like to see,” said Litwin Makey.
With the rendering of the building not yet set in stone and the build still a few years away, some of the new changes will include bigger assessment rooms allowing space for an entire family, new sensory programs, as well as an upgraded pool and a priority to accessibility throughout.
Board chair Beth Cummings said the demand for a new space is already here.
“There’s growing needs in the community, we have kids here who are on a waitlist and we know where we are cramped.”
Cummings said the centre now needs support from the government to make it happen.
The foundation has raised $4 million so far with the support of the community, with another $2 million to go to get to the build stage.
Also in attendance at the “Past and Future” event was MPP Rick Nicholls and Mayor Randy Hope.
“It’s not an expectation of more clients, it is more clients already,” said Hope. “We’re hoping the provincial government will also see the value that we already see as a municipality and as residents in the service it provides here.”
Nicholls said he would be meeting with Litwin Makey and her team to learn about the challenges they are facing in moving forward and reaching out to government afterwards.
For anyone who is hesitant to get involved in helping fundraise, Litwin Makey said they need not be.
“We are a worthy cause and kids are an investment to our future. It’s magical when you work here and are able to see the amazing gains,” she said.
