THUNDER BAY — Celebrating 25 years, Our Kids Count invited families to their Crawford Ave location for an evening of fun activities, a barbecue and community fun.
As part of the celebrations, executive director Jackie Knough explained how an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant of $369,100 helped the organization open two more locations in different parts of the city.
The funding was first announced in 2020 and will run its course by the end of September 2023. Both the Windsor and Academy Heights locations were identified as needs for the community through local child development and research data and subsequently opened in the neighbourhoods.
Knough said they are lucky that the organization doesn't hold a lot of waitlists for programming.
"If we have a wait list for one program, we will offer a secondary program. So we try to move families into programs as the need is there. Our programs are full, but we continue to meet new community residents and new people coming out, but we never really hold a lot of waitlists."
Knough added it's difficult to find mentors for their Big Brother Big Sisters programs, the only OKC program with a waitlist, but said a grant of $56,000 received from the Trillium Foundation earlier this year should help.
"With this Grow Grant and with the Resiliency Grant of the $56,000, we are now able to hire a new staff member that can continue to do recruitment in the city and find more matches so that we can get more kids off the wait lists."
Nearly 300 people enjoyed the anniversary barbecue meal, donated by Half-Way Motors Nissan, as well as a bouncy castle, face painting and other family activities.
Our Kids Count has been providing services to Thunder Bay's youth community for 25 years with various programs like community kitchens, skills and parenting workshops, pre-and post-natal support and more.
