ESTEVAN — The Estevan Early Years Family Resource Centre (EEYFRC) brought together local organizations that might be helpful for parents and children.
The first Family Resource Expo took place on Saturday at Spruce Ridge School.
The EEYFRC gathered around 15 early childhood professionals and services, which were providing information and resources to parents. The day also saw a hotdog lunch, as well as entertainment for children and educational seminars and talks.
"We wanted all the professionals and services that you could use [with children] from zero to five in Estevan, all in one place, just so parents have that information; they know where to go if they have a problem, or their child isn't hitting a milestone. And then we wanted to add a fun little factor, so we added our bouncy castle, a face painter, we have Chase and Skye from Paw Patrol here," shared Sydney Wanner, the EEYFRC executive director.
"We really enjoy putting on events like this, especially just because with our funding and everyone's donations, we're so lucky to have it free. Maybe a family couldn't afford to bring their child to an event where there are these Paw Patrol characters or face paint or a bouncy castle. We just love putting on events like that; it's very inclusive for everybody and your background doesn't matter or any of that. And then just getting that information out there for parents as well," she added.
The event was run by the EEYFRC board. Estevan MLA Lori Carr joined the board that day as a volunteer and helped serve lunch. The $5 lunch was sponsored by Southern Plains Co-op, which helped the EEYFRC to raise funds for older-age kids programming.
"All of the money will help keep our [six]-11 programs free," said Wanner. "But also, we're wanting to expand and have an outdoor space soon, in the summertime, so we're starting our phase 1 of planning now."
The EEYFRC is also running a Trip of the Month fundraiser, aimed to support the same initiatives, and Wanner said they sold out of tickets really quickly.
"We are very grateful for the community for all of that support; that was amazing," Wanner said. "That will also be going towards the outdoor space. And we're also looking to get a [six] to 11 facilitator, an actual position that's permanent just for those programs. Right now, it's just myself doing it, but it's a very, very busy job."
She noted the centre is still in the planning phase of developing the full six-11 program offering. Currently, they have a program for that age group every evening of the week, and a couple of mornings or weekends throughout the month as well.
"We're very consistent now. But we want to expand it even more," Wanner said.
The EEYFRC sees participation growing from month to month and they strive to be resourceful and also fun for their patrons.
"Each month, we're growing and growing. The highest we've ever had was 1,800 people in a month. That's very exciting. And we are seeing new families come in every week," Wanner said.
"We really appreciate when families who aren't from Estevan, who are new, come in because we just have so many resources and all the other things they need to know about here."
