A ground breaking was held today (May 14) to begin the building of a new facility for Denisiqi Services Society in Williams Lake.
Executive Director Christa Smith said it will be built on the old Finning site that they purchased and are in the midst of renovating to turn into their new forever home so they can provide programs and services to all of their communities.
“We are over 70 staff strong now so we’ve outgrown our space and we’re really looking forward to getting into our new building. It will be a drastic difference from our current office, it’s much larger. Right now we don’t have offices for over half of our staff so in the new building all of our staff will have offices. Right now we don’t have sufficient program space and we don’t have large enough meeting space. Sometimes we have to rent alternative spaces when we want to run programs and this building will allow us to do that.”
Vanessa Riplinger, Executive Director of the Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre, was also on hand to give a speech during the grand opening of two new buses that are a part of the Indigenous Mobile Child and Youth Care Services.
“This isn’t just the launch of a new program, it’s a powerful step toward healing and equity. It’s about meeting children, youth, and families where they are, not just geographically, but emotionally, culturally, and spiritually. In many rural and remote communities, access to care has been limited for far too long. This mobile service changes that. It brings support into the heart of the community, shaped by the voices of the people it serves,” Riplinger said.
Smith said the Mobile Services is a joint partnership between Denisiqi and the Child Development Centre.
“It’s therapy services and support services for children with special needs. We service the entire 13 Cariboo Chilcotin Indigenous communities. The buses go out to each community to see children where they’re at. We bring speech and language occupational therapy, physio therapy, family support, all done in a culturally grounded Indigenous lens. Children can receive these services right in their home community without having to come into town for them.”
Smith added they have over 400 children and youth that serve right now and going out to the communities our case list and our referrals are growing everyday.
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