This week's demolition of the 40-year-old Kinsmen House is a dramatic announcement of something new coming to Ladner.
Replacing the Kin House at the edge of Memorial Park will be a 21,000-square-foot building that will soon house both the Ladner-Tsawwassen Kinsmen Club and Reach Child and Youth Development Society.
Construction on the child development centre is planned to begin this August with completion scheduled for a year later.
Reach president Donna Burke extended a huge thank you to the Kinsmen for embracing children and youth with special needs and partnering with Reach and the Corporation of Delta in the Building for Children Together project.
The Kinsmen Club has been providing funding and support for community programs and groups in Delta since 1936. The Kinsmen House is just one of the construction projects the club has funded over the years, a list that includes the Ladner Pioneer Library and water park in Memorial Park.
The club will continue to serve through this unique partnership that will bring programs and services to children with special needs and their families into the heart of the community.
"We're very proud to be part of this partnership and, along with other projects and partnerships, we continue to serve the community's greatest need," said club president Ian Sandham.
This new location will, over time, double the number of families that Reach is able to support, including planned new prevocational and social programs for youth with
learning disabilities and autism. The community meeting room in the new building will be available to the public.
With support from the Corporation of Delta, the corporate sector and other community organizations such as the Delta Agricultural Society, the Reach Foundation has raised $4 million of the $5 million required.
For more information or to help, contact Reach fundraising manager Joni Wright at 604-946-6622 ext. 367 or visit www.reachdevelopment.org/campaign.
