Representatives from Community Foundation  present their donation to the Children's Treatment Centre at a ceremony Tuesday. July 10, 2018. (Photo by Greg Higgins)Representatives from Community Foundation present their donation to the Children's Treatment Centre at a ceremony Tuesday. July 10, 2018. (Photo by Greg Higgins)
Chatham

Treatment Center Closer To New Facility With Latest Donation

The Children's Treatment Centre (CTC) of Chatham-Kent is one step closer to its goal for the Butterfly Building Campaign after accepting a pledge of more than $100,000 from the Chatham-Kent Community Foundation.

While the ceremony was held Tuesday, the donation will be made in installments as an initial grant of $20,978 was made recently and the total $100,978 will be paid over the next four years.

Mike Genge, Executive Director of Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, said the money will go towards the Butterfly Building Campaign, which is a new facility planned to better accommodate kids with special needs in CK to reach their full potential.

"We are really excited about [the donation] and it's really going to go a long ways to helping us with our campaign," Genge said. "It shows there is community support and widespread community support. We love the fact we can get all these partners involved in our project and keep pushing it forward."

Genge said the CTC Foundation is roughly $2-million short of its $6-million goal for the new building. He plans on hitting the total by the fall and is pretty confident they'll get there.

"I've been doing this for 20 years and I have worked on over $30-million in projects and never have we not made our goal," Genge said. "We will make the goal."

Hugh Logan is the executive director of the Chatham-Kent Community Foundation. He said the organization has supported the treatment centre in the past and came through again now that they need donation more than ever.

"With this expansion going on we realized they are filled to capacity with their ability to treat the young people in the community and this is going to provide them the opportunity to expand their services and help more people," Logan said.

The CTC estimated that by 2020 it will serve 4,500 clients, a pretty big increase when compared to the 224 it served when the current building was built in 1984.

The new state-of-the-art facility, to be constructed on McNaughton Ave., will be 50,000 sq ft. It will provide the needed space as the specialized treatment requirements for children and youth with disabilities continues to grow in Chatham-Kent.

Genge added the money donated by the community foundation will go towards equipment for the new facility.

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