WEYBURN – Construction on the new location for the Family Place and Early Learning Centre in Weyburn is underway, and the yearly funding from the government has now kicked in, the board of trustees for the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division heard on Monday night.
The board met on a different night to accommodate a busy schedule for schools last week that trustees wanted to attend.
Dawn Gutzke, executive director of the Family Place, and Judy Lumb, assistant director, met with the board to update them on where the joint project is at.
Holy Family has partnered to create a new family resource centre that will be located in the former Dance Zone building on McLelland Street.
“I will never forget the first phone from Terry (Jordens), explaining the new venture. It really sounded too good for us, so I tried not to get too excited,” said Gutzke, adding once more details were known, and she met with key personnel at Holy Family’s office, she realized it was the real thing.
“There was a lot of planning and decision-making in the beginning, and a few bumps in the road along the way,” she said, but they were able to work through the details, with day-to-day calls with Jordens to figure things out.
Gutzke said Jordens is “a hard-working amazing lady” who has helped them immensely, including hooking them up with resources as needed, including with Holy Family’s IT people.
She noted they have been able to hire an early childhood educator for the Family Place, and she’s been in the building helping them out.
The timing of Holy Family partnering with them was perfect, explained Gutzke, as they had begun an expansion program that included buying the former location of the Dance Zone studio in the summer of 2021.
The building wasn’t big enough for what they need, but there is room in the back of the property to add on to the building, and indeed work has now begun on the construction.
Gutzke noted the basement has been dug and the foundation poured, and the roof trusses arrived on Monday, so once the roof is up, construction can be done over the winter. The plan is to be moving in to their new building in the month of June from their current home on Fourth Street.
“I just want to extend a heart-felt thank-you to all of you for not only taking on this big task of being our partners, but choosing the Family Place to be a staffing partner,” said Gutzke, her voice breaking from emotion. “It just really big for us to have this and not have the stress of so much fundraising, and to be able to grow and continue serving the community.”
She had noted the original plan when they bought the new location was to fundraise for a few years to have the funds needed to renovate and expand the facilities for what they needed.
“It was easy for us to hitch our wagon to your train. You guys do all these great things in the community already,” said Jordens, who noted the Ministry funding has kicked in, with an annual amount of $265,000 towards the new expanded programming. “That was a step forward for our mission, and we’re happy to be there.”
Asked how many families use the Family Place right now, Gutzke noted they have about 70 families who have children in the Mini-Go preschool program, plus another 25 to 30 families come every week to use the play rooms, clothing closet or take part in one of the programs offered, such as for parents.
A trustee asked how the community has accepted this new partnership with Holy Family, and Gutzke said it appears many people don’t understand what it’s about because they already exist, and are continuing to operate.
“Lots of people are saying it’s a good thing,” she added, noting it’s been good to belong to an outside agency like a school division. She noted that during COVID, for example, they had no idea what rules to operate under as they are not the same as a day care or a school.
Education director Gwen Keith noted once they hold a grand opening for the new location and programming, there will be a lot more understanding in the community about what they’re doing.
