Abilities for Life campaign launches

Five Counties Children’s Centre is excited to announce the launch of the Building Abilities for Life Campaign, a $250,000 community fundraising initiative in support of the priority need for speech and language services for children in all the communities Five Counties Children’s Centre serves.

The need for the centre’s speech-language and communication therapies grows every year. Because of the increasing need, some children have to wait, falling further behind. With community investment, these children can get the treatment they need, when they need it, according to a media release.

“Five Counties Children’s Centre’s ‘Building Abilities for Life’ campaign addresses the investment needed to support as many children and their families in our communities as possible in speech and language therapy, which is our highest need program,” says Scott Pepin, CEO of Five Counties Children’s Centre.

In 2020/2021 our speech and communication programs supported 1,452 kids to receive speech and language services. Currently, we have 1,334 children on our waiting list for speech and language therapy with an average wait time of 18-24 months.

“This campaign is important because we know the earlier a child can receive treatment, the more likely it is they can reach their full communication potential,” says Pepin. “This investment carries forward into adulthood, where having these improved skills will continue to provide a positive impact on their quality of life.”

Funding from this campaign will mean more kids and their families will continue to receive services in person, by phone and virtually. This ensures children learn how to feed, swallow, improve speech and language skills and have access to adaptive communication equipment when they need help the most. Our donors are part of the solution for kids and families to get the early intervention that is key to building their abilities for life.