Group seeks to raise $5M for one-stop-shop for special needs kids

Aidan Flamand, who has spina bifida, said he can't wait for the new Specialized Services for Children and Youth (Sky) Centre to open.

A fundraising campaign kicked off Sunday to raise the final $5 million for a state-of-the-art center for children with special needs. The provincial government has already committed $17 million towards the new facility.

Organizers said it will make life easier for families and bring smiles to smiles to children’s faces.

Children’s musician Fred Penner has been making kids smile for decades and Sunday at The Forks he worked his magic on eight-year-old Aidan Flamand, who has spina bifida.

"It means that my legs don't really work like you guys do," Flamand said.

Several times a year, he requires various treatments and that means trips all over town for his family.

"Over a couple of days, usually,” said Aidan’s dad, Ian. “You've got to come back if something's not lined up, and then you've got to be sent to a different building at the hospital, then you've got to come to that center."

The Buy a Smile campaign aims to raise the final $5 million for a new centre, called Specialized Services for Children and Youth. The SSCY Centre promises to make things easier for children who require treatment and rehabilitation for conditions like spina bifida, cerebral palsy or amputations.

"It's going to be an environment that is very suitable to the needs of the kids and their families,” said director of capital campaign Nicole Latourelle. “It's a space where kids can be kids and families can be families."

The Christies Biscuits building on Notre Dame Avenue is being renovated to house the SSCY Centre and, when it opens in 2016, it will be the first facility of its kind in Canada with multiple service providers for special needs children all under one roof.

“It'll make it all that much easier to know that one day you go there, everything's there,” Ian Flamand.

Aidan looks forward to the grand opening because he plans on making some memories in the new building.

“I'll learn how to walk and all that. I'm so excited, I can barely wait."

The SSCY Centre will be home 14 different groups and agencies that work with children who have special needs. For more information about the centre, visit togetherisbetter.ca.

- With a report by Ben Miljure