With the fundraising efforts ongoing to help get the final steps of the renovations of the new facility for the Family Place in Weyburn wrapped up, some presentations were made to the organization outside of their future location Thursday afternoon. Over $40,000 was announced, with donations coming from Prairie Sky Co-op, the Weyburn Young Fellows, Souris Valley Industries and Crescent Point Energy. 

Silver sponsors, the Weyburn Young Fellows donated $30,000, and Prairie Sky Co-op donated the first installment of $6,000 for the $30,000 commitment over five years.

Bronze sponsors, Souris Valley Industries donated $15,000, and Crescent Point Energy donated $15,000 as well. 

The presentations were for sponsorship donations for the new building, and these sponsors will be thanked with recognition on the sign-out front of the building.  

After the presentations, executive director Dawn Gutzke talked about how the new facility will be similar, and yet different, from the existing space they have on 4th Street.  

“When you first walk in, it’s gonna look similar to the old place,” Gutzke said. “It’s gonna have a living room setting so you feel just at home. We’re going to have two giant playrooms again, we’re going to have our Snoezelen room, and we have some really exciting new things that we’re adding into this building, so you have to stay tuned and come to the grand opening.” 

Over the course of the summer, the work will be underway of relocating the Family Place to their new building. It is hoped the renovations will be wrapped up by the middle of August, with the move itself happening at the end of August. Then, full programming will start in the new location in September when school starts.  

There will also be some new services offered at the Family Place after the move, Gutzke explained.  

“We’re going to have a lot more family programming, like a lot more,” she said. “Services for families with children in the early years – we're really ramping that up. We just hired an ECE – early childhood educator – in partnership with the Holy Family (Roman Catholic Separate) School Division, so she’s going to be working with us hands-on quite a bit, helping us with that early childhood education piece.” 

Below you can see some photos from the new facility that is undergoing its transformation.

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--with files from Mack Kohl.

Video courtesy of Dawn Gutzke.