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Algoma residents and parents of young children, did you know there is an EarlyON centre near you?
“EarlyON Child and Family Centres are open and free to all families across Ontario to provide support, advice, personal connections, and a network of resources, as well as play and inquiry-based programs for young children,” explained Nancy Tulloch, who with her colleague Jennifer Bow, runs programming in the Algoma area.
There are EarlyON centres in both Blind River and Iron Bridge, with various programming and service hours, located at 17 Hanes Ave. Blind River, and the Village Inn, Iron Bridge.
According to Tulloch, the centres put together a calendar of programming and events for families with children up to 6 years old each month. “We offer special speakers for the parents, sensory play for the children, reading stories, finger painting, baking…every day is different. We try to meet the children where they are at, and help them to learn those skills that are vital at this age.”
If your family also includes children over 6, don’t worry, you can bring them along too. “We have the space to welcome all the children in the family, and we find it’s good for the older and younger children to be together. They can each learn a lot from each other,” Tulloch commented.
The EarlyON Centre in Blind River is also a place where parents can access free, gently used baby clothing, toys, or other equipment. “So much of infant clothing and equipment is barely used, so we accept donations, clean it up and offer it up to other families in the community,” said Tulloch. “Just come in and see what we have!”
This year, EarlyON Centres are once again participating in an important research and data base study being run by Nurturing Algoma with Sick Kids Hospital and Queen’s University. “We are being asked to help assess children at various stages and this information will be used to put together the first data base of this kind,” said Tulloch. “It’s really important that we get as many children as possible in this…this will be happening in April, and again, in October.”
Tulloch and her colleagues and volunteers also give out welcome baby baskets to those in the community who are having a baby. “We do this with donations from the community, it’s a basket with nursing pads, bibs, diaper cream, baby shampoo, as well as information about us and other services for children and families in the area. It’s a gift and also an invitation to come and see us, see what we do and how we can support them.”
Families who are not familiar with EarlyON are invited to register at the website here. Then, they can access all the free programming, calendar, hours, and information available. “If the family doesn’t have access to a computer, they are welcome to come here and we will help them get registered,” said Tulloch. “We don’t want to turn anyone away, ever.”
The EarlyON Blind River Centre also has a Facebook page where the monthly calendar and information about events is also available.
Tulloch added, “We just want to make sure all the families with children in our area know that we are here, we are free, and we offer so much. Please, come check us out today!”
