All the makings of a great hanksgiving 398 ml tin 298 g or Crumbs 340 g. Fresh. Grade A or Utility. 2.18/ kg tb GALIZORNIA Medium size. U.S. No. 1 Grade. Ib Bes CRANBERRY SAUCE or Jelly. Town House. 398 mL. Edwards. Asst. Grinds. 300 g pkg. Limit 2. Over limit price 1.98 ea. hid ma gh A New way t B.C. Grown. Canada No. 1 Grade. -55/ kg ‘ROBIN HOOD FLOUR ,5elected Varieties. 10 kg bag. IN STORE BAKERY FRESH PUMPKIN BONELESS Canadian Pride. Ready to eat. Limit] Approx. 10 - 12 lbs. 4.37/kg ‘ PRICES IN EFFECT... OCT./ 1992 BA Advertised prices in effect at your neighbourhood ¢ astlegar Safeway store. Quantity rights reserved. Some items may not be exactly as shown PROFILE WEDNESDAY, Oct 7, 1992 1B The hold-up for tender care It's been more than a year since the Kootenay Columbia Child Care Society planned to open the Tender Care Variety Centre, which will serve the development needs of children throughout the district. Now that the building is near completion, the waiting list of participants can begin programs, and some serious needs in Castlegar will be addressed. The Kootenay Columbia Child Care Society can see light at the end of the tunnel in trying to complete the Tender Care Variety Centre, a new centre in Castlegar that will serve the development needs of chil- dren throughout the Regional District of Central Kootenay. “We are so close. So very close,” said Katrine Conroy, executive director of the Kootenay Columbia Child Care Society (KCCCS). Construction was started on the building, which at one time was a Pentecostal Church, in spring 1991, Banking on the fact that funding Promised would be money received, the initial plan was to have the building finished—complete with a grand opening party by September 1991. No such luck. A large portion of the money for the $470,000 project, which had been promised earlier, now didn't come through. The board of directors at the KCCCS had to make a decision. “We wanted to be fiscally responsible and not borrow money to do the project,” said Conroy, “That's a lot of money to have to owe.” The decision to do work as money became available meant Programs, an integrated infant/toddler childcare centre with spaces for children with special needs and the ‘West Kootenay infant development program. Another program the céntre will soon be offering in cooperation with School District No. 9 is a stay-in-school Program for young mothers. The response to the program, said Program Coordinator Kim Adamson, has been nothing short of excellent. “There definitely was a need for this type of a program in Castlegar,” she said. Adamson moved from Peterborough, Ontario, and has extensive The program allows young mothers, between the ages of 14 and 23, a chance to achieve their high school diploma and obtain licensed, quality care for their children at the same time. “At the moment we have 15 young women who have been assessed to take the program," said Adamson. The centre will have space for 24 infantsAoddlers, some of which will be the children of the young putting off the opening date inevitably, compiling a waiting list of children who needed the services that the new centre would offer, and begin a semi- campaign for fundraising from local charities and service clubs. The KCCCS estimated $100,000 would need to be raised in order to complete the construction and buy the neces- Sary equipment that is required in a facility for children under three In making their needs known to the community, it wasn’t long before di groups showed As well as cooking and heating food for children and infants, the kitchen on the first floor of the Variety Cen- tre will be used for storing dishes and other smaller pieces of equipment. Along with offering a variety of programs, the first floor of the Tender Care Variety Centre will house equipment such as the Bye-Bye Baby Buggies, which are used to take children outside for a stroll. an interest in helping out. Slow- ly, the dilapidated building located next to Hobbit Hill, the first children’s day care centre belonging to the KCCCS, began to take shape. ity helped to. di the inside of the building, which saved the KCCCS more than $3,400. After the interior was reconstructed, the Selkirk Lions Club, which bought and installed doors, and the Kiwanis Club, which did the paint- ing inside, saved the KCCCS an additional $25,000. Westar Timber/Pope and Talbot donated $4,000 worth of lumber, and the local Carpenters Union are now planning to build an accessible covered deck for the new centre. ng from the dollar for dollar, the Variety Chub of B.C. donated $20,000 to the.centre last spring, which added to the chub's original donation of $109,555 that it had committed in fall 1991 “The contributions the.community have made have been wonderful Not just fi ially, but in the vol working hours people have spent to get this place taking shape,” Conroy said. More than two years later however, the Tender Care Variety Centre is not yet completed—but it’s close. While the renovations are winding down, the waiting list of children who are enrolled in the various upcoming programs which the centre will eventually offer has increased. “Some people in the community might think that the Tender Care Variety Centre is strictly a daycare centre. That is not the case at all,” Conroy said. Indeed. The Tender Care Variety Centre will offer a diversity of pro- grams—all of which the healthy develop of young chil- dren. Under the banner of the Tender Care Variety Centre, a growing wait- ing list of children, will be served in Physiotherapy and speech therapy Some of the young women - el involved quit high school ¢ Welcome b of their pi i Some are pregnant again. Most are on social assistance. And ear most are single mothers. All of them want desperately to get an education. The program will help the women break through a poverty cycle that is synonymous with young, single mothers who have no high school diploma. While School District No. 9 covers the costs of books, materials and a teacher, the Tender Care Variety Centre will provide the location for the learning, and the space for their children who are enrolled in the child care pro- gram as a result. The crucial need for these Part of the learning centre for children at the Tender Care programs and the fact that the Volunteer workers from the Variety Centre, located next to Hobbit Hill in Castlegar. construction of the centre is slow to finish due to a lack of money has forced the board of directors at the KCCCS to make a deci- sion. “We've decided that, because there is such a high demand in the community for these services to start as soon as possible, we will begin to borrow the remaining amount of money needed to complete the building,” said Conroy, who estimates that the centre will run up a debt of about $40,000. The building, which has a total of 48,000 square feet of Space, has already been transformed into a bright, eye-pleasing, itive i ment with office space, a child care centre, therapy rooms, an observa- tion room for parents, teachers and social workers, and a classroom/board room. When the building is totally completed and the new programs are underway, seven new jobs will be needed to ensure its success. “We're in the process now of hiring staff for centre. We're looking for of early child! d ion, p with a post-basic in infant-toddler care,” said Adamson, adding that the staffing ratio will be 1:3 for infants and 1:4 for toddlers So, when will the Tender Care Variety Centre officially open its doors to meet the needs of the public? “We're now hoping to have our official opening in November or December,” said Conroy. "But children are starting to be enrolled for care in October." Conroy is also hoping that members of the communi- ty will want to donate some of their time to help out af the centre, such as senior citizens who would like to work with young children. Only one year off schedule. But there is light at the end of this tunnel. a a ge _ ‘» @\ ~A Staff kitchen located upstairs will also be used by a speech therapist who will work with children in a more informal setting outside of her own office. Story by Sharlene Imhoff Photos by John Van Putten