Fenwick, Welland EarlyOn centres closing
Two EarlyON centres are closing.
The satellite site at Fenwick United Church will close Feb. 1 and the centre at Calvary Gospel Church on South Pelham Road in Welland will cease operations Dec. 19.
Families who currently take advantage of programming offered at both locations will still have the opportunity to take their children to other places where mobile services will be offered.
Planned partnerships with Pelham Public Library and the town’s Meridian Community Centre, and other groups, will allow programs to carry on.
The centres operate on funds provided by the provincial government and administered through Niagara Region.
The upcoming moves will save money in the long run, said Adrian McKenzie, senior manager of programs for Family and Children’s Services Niagara, operator of both of the sites that will be closing, as well as one that will remain open at Central United Church in Welland.
The centre in downtown Welland will open its doors to parents and their children displaced by the closures, as well as a recently-opened site at Seaway
Mall that is run by Port Cares of Port Colborne.
“Our costs keep going up and we just had to decide whether it would be better for us to invest in brick and mortar or invest in programming and staff,” said McKenzie, who explained that the same programs will be available, but just at different locations.
“We’re transitioning from the two physical sites to more of a community outreach model,” said McKenzie.
EarlyON sites provide care and learning activities for children from birth to age six years, typically on a set schedule during weekdays.
This may have to be adjusted when the community outreach approach takes over, but McKenzie said the hectic schedules of families will remain in mind when the change takes place.
“We’ll try to have it as consistent as possible,” he said.
As times and dates for programming may fluctuate, McKenzie said families will receive notifications on upcoming schedules at least a month ahead of time.
If this doesn’t work, sites at Central United in downtown Welland and Seaway Mall always have their doors open.
“We encourage them to go to any EarlyON centre,” he said.
The two sites in north Welland and Fenwick host an average of about 80 families a week.
Melanie Oakes, a north-end Welland mother of three children under age five years, is disappointed with the changes, saying that parents, many of them with newborns, will have difficulty adjusting to a new timetable and travelling to new venues.
“It’s really difficult for a lot of people,” she said, adding she also has concerns about the layout of the site in downtown Welland, as well as parking in the area.
She feels people from the north end of Welland and Fenwick will struggle when the new plan is implemented, saying they will have to travel too far with young kids to receive services that are “supposed to be in close proximity” to young families.
The concerned parent also said eliminating the sites and asking parents to adjust to monthly schedules is frustrating.