The Moose Jaw Early Years Family Resource Centre (FRC) is holding a Welcome Week celebration as they open their facility after a long pandemic period.
The FRC offers free services to families with children aged prenatal to five years old.
FRC Welcome Week will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., June 20 through 24, including a ribbon cutting on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
“Our Welcome Week will be like a grand opening because we (haven’t been fully operational),” said Wanda Peakman, coordinator at the FRC. “We have different things going on every day, and one of our biggest days will be Tuesday. We’re having a ribbon-cutting presentation with some dignitaries and speeches will be happening. And an FRC family will be speaking.”
Funding for a new Early Years FRC in Moose Jaw was first announced in 2019. The FRC was ready for operation by the end of 2020, but plans for a full opening were frustrated by COVID.
“We’ve never had a grand opening,” Peakman explained. “We’ve been offering our services throughout COVID in different ways, because we weren’t able to have families in the building … And now we’re able to meet in person and connect, which is the whole idea of the Family Resource Centre.”
Daily events will include:
- Monday, June 20 at 10 a.m. — Lindsey Stephenson, author of the inclusive children’s book “My Mama is a Superhero!” will do a live reading. Her book will be on display as a Story Trail, with families able to walk through the centre reading a page at a time.
- Tuesday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. — The Moose Jaw Police Service will be doing car seat education and a bike rodeo. They will check helmet sizing and kids will be able to bike through a small course.
- Wednesday, June 22 at 10 a.m. — The Sask Reptile Show will educate and entertain children with special guests such as snakes, lizards, and tortoises.
- Thursday, June 23, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Music for Young Children with Cora will give kids a chance to move and groove to some fun beats.
- Friday, June 24 — The FRC will have a Jump for Joy Day with plenty of fun motor activities as the week wraps up.
“Throughout the week, we’ll have our outside Drop-in Play open. That’s where families can come and play and explore together with their little one,” Peakman said. “There will be tables with developmental activities. So, for example, on Monday, going along with our author reading, we’ll have activities on diversity, and we’ll have some superhero capes, that kind of thing.”
There will also be associated agencies at the FRC during the week offering information and resources for the early years of childhood.
Agencies with representatives at Welcome Week will include:
- South Central Early Childhood Intervention Program
- Early Social Skills Program
- Regional KidsFirst
- Inclusion Moose Jaw and FASD
- Prairie South School Division
- Moose Jaw Literacy Network
- KidsFirst
- Saskatchewan Health Authority - Oral Health Program
- Moose Jaw Public Library
Part of the FRC’s function is to educate families on the community-based-organization (CBO) and government resources available to them.
The FRC also helps expecting mothers, or “prenatal children.”
“We have moms that are expecting who come to the center,” Peakman said. “Maybe not necessarily for the bike rodeo. … We do have a maternal mental health group that runs on Zoom, and we have a Moms for Moms group. … There was just a breastfeeding class held here in partnership with SHA the other weekend.”
For more information on the FRC or on Welcome Week, contact the centre by calling 306-691-0202; texting 306-690-1372; or emailing office@moosejawfrc.ca.
The FRC’s Facebook page is also updated frequently: facebook.com/moosejawfrc.
