Inclusion Weyburn is offering autistic children and their families a resource program, including a unique summer day camp that provides one-on-one care with a wide variety of activities.
Jackie Wilson and Tammy Grieve of Inclusion Weyburn gave a presentation on their organization to the Weyburn Rotary Club at their luncheon meeting on Thursday. Rotary is one of the supporters of the organization, which was formerly known as the Saskatchewan Association for Community Living (SACL).
Inclusion Weyburn offers resources and programs for children with intellectual disabilities and their families, and they combined efforts with the Weyburn Leisure Centre to have their kids as part of the “Fun in the Sun” summer day camp program.
Grieve explained they have arranged for one-on-one staff with the children, and they were able to hire high school students as summer staff who had volunteered during the school year.
“The size of the city has helped make the program work very well. The staff from the schools are very active and give so much of their time,” said Grieve, whose full-time job is teaching at Haig School. She noted the advantage of hiring these students is they know the children already through volunteering with them.
The Fun in the Sun program has around 30 children taking part, and Inclusion Weyburn adds another seven or eight who are able to participate in the activities.
The purpose of Inclusion Weyburn, and of having the children in the day camp, is “to ensure individuals from Weyburn area who have intellectual disabilities are valued and supported members of the community, and have opportunities in additional aspects of life,” said Grieve, who added they are fortunate to have many organizations and businesses who sponsor their work.
Some of the organizations include the Rotary, Young Fellows Club, South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, Weyburn Health Centre Physicians, Sask. Lotteries, Zion Lutheran Church and Access Communications Children’s Fund, along with individuals such as Bob and Karen Satre, and Rita Torkelson.
The Weyburn Leisure Centre has also provided space for them as they are part of the Fun in the Sun program, including a sensory room with borrowed and donated items.
Some of the places and activities the kids get to enjoy through the program include visits to the Heritage Village, Signal Hill Arts Centre, swimming at the outdoor pool, and Nickle Lake Regional Park, where on Friday they took part in kayaking lessons as well enjoying time at the beach.
Grieve’s sister, Shannon Williams, lives in Regina and has an autistic son, and told Tammy the Weyburn program is quite unique, as far as she’s been able to find. She told Grieve, “I’ve looked at many camps and I’ve never found another one that doesn’t cost extra for kids with extra needs. Most aren’t inclusive at all.”
Wilson added, “There are camps for just children with intellectual disabilities, and many ‘regular’ camps that these children are not able to attend because the extra supports and supervision are not there for them. This is the first inclusive camp in Weyburn.”
Inclusion Weyburn held a family engagement day in June at the Leisure Centre, and resource personnel from Inclusion Saskatchewan (formerly SACL) were in attendance to explain what range of programs are available to parents. During this time, the children were able to be in the swimming pool with the high school student volunteers who are now their one-on-one staff members for the summer, and the families were then treated to a barbecue lunch.
Grieve pointed out that a side-benefit to an event like that is the parents were able to meet other parents of intellectually-disabled children, and were able to network and share stories and experiences with each other.
An ongoing fundraiser for the group are yellow clothing bins set up in the parking lot at Zion Lutheran Church, where clothing and other items can be left. The group earned about $2,000 last year from the donations left in those bins.
