What started as an idea this past May has now become a reality.
New Heights Autism Support Society in Williams Lake held a soft opening today (Oct.17) for parents to learn more about what they have to offer them and their children with special needs.
Betty Taratus, Grant Writer and Parent Advocate said they’ll be offering hours to fit the parents’ schedule as well as helping them with the paperwork to get funding.
“We will be doing training for families and professionals,” Taratus said. “We are going to help parents with trying to get professionals into town so we’re going to see if we can pool money together to get them to come into town at least once a month or something.”
Executive Director of the Society, Patricia Kennedy, traveled from Kamloops for the event and was impressed at how much progress has been made.
“Oh it’s very exciting to see that we were able to do it as quickly as we were but part of that was because Crystal’s passionate about doing it, and the other part is that there’s so much need here that she’s had lots of support from the community as well and of course we’re excited to have them as part of our board.”
Kennedy said the parents she’s met are excited and that she had set up an intake meeting for a family today.
Being that it was a soft opening, Taratus said at this point New Heights Autism Support Society is open 9 am to 4 pm until they start hearing from the parents.