REACH Centre Grey Bruce reopens for in-person program delivery today at their new location at 369 8th Street East, Owen Sound. The momentous occasion marks the one year anniversary of being one of the first agency’s to suspend in-person programming out of an abundance of caution.
Since that time, the REACH Centre Grey Bruce was quick to pivot and launched a virtual program model, mobilized technology and built and deployed a web portal free to anyone in the sector with new activities uploaded and shared weekly. In 2020 the agency had 2,432 Zoom connections with program participants, sent out 454 activity kits by mail and placed 1, 344 well-being phone calls and organized many birthday parades.
In July, 2020 they were the first in the province approved to reopen and successfully launched a modified program model to accommodate all guidelines of Public Health. In December, 2020 the former Grey Granite Club was sold and the agency bought their forever home. The new facility is over 4,000ft2, all one level and has been extensively renovated to be fully accessible. A core group of volunteers worked tirelessly on the project including Rob Croft, Tim Poste, Chuck Dickey, Ian Dickey, Marc Matei, Michelle Walker and Stephan Kuhar. There were a legion of other volunteers and REACH friends and families that also helped in making the project successful and there is heartfelt gratitude for every single one.
The new facility includes an accessible teaching kitchen, life skills and technology room, a recreational fitness area, an art and creative expressions area, lounge, games area and a learning retail shop which is opening soon. In addition to hours of work by many volunteers, we also had local businesses, organizations and community members support the vision. Those include: Comart Foundation, United Way Bruce Grey, Community Foundation Grey Bruce, Bruce Power, Grey County, Bruce County, Nicol Insurance, Intack Insurance, the Edge Benefits, Troy Life & Fire Safety Ltd, Design Electrical, Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound, G.M Diemert Architect Inc., The Alliance Lawyers, Grey County Real Estate Inc., Chapman’s , Rotary Club of Markdale, Swing Your Sticks, KIA Owen Sound, IG Private Wealth Management Todd & Associates, Bin There Dump That, Grey Bruce Sod Supply Limited, Home Depot, Donald Sutherland Construction, McNabb Flooring Solutions and the Water Depot. For a complete list visit www.reachcentre.org/foreverhome
The grand opening will be announced soon and the agency is now accepting applications for program participation on all days Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 4:00pm. For additional details on how to apply visit https://reachcentre.org/join-us/
“Everything we do at REACH focuses on facilitating participants to have quality of life and meaningful contribution to community”, explains Jennifer Miller, Executive Director. “Our extraordinary young people have so many gifts to share. Our ability based approach works on building existing capacity and exploring opportunities to continue learning. Having a large accessible stable space for program delivery means we can help more families and do more good”.
The REACH Centre is a charitable organization focused on skill acquisition for independence, community and friendship. Founded in 2014, the organization was created to fill a distinct gap in full day programming opportunities for young adults that faced intellectual and developmental challenges. Their mission is to provide individualized engaging adult-based social and educational learning opportunities, which support participants achieving their full potential in a safe and inclusive environment.
source: media release, Reach Centre Grey Bruce