What if every child — regardless of ability or income — had a place to play, learn, and grow together?
Empower Simcoe’s supports and Services Manager, Michele Kapteyn, recently spoke from the heart to the incredible fundraising group Guys That Give, sharing what their support for the Empower Simcoe Foundation’s Hooray for Outdoor Play campaign would truly mean. Her words painted a powerful picture of the joy, connection, and growth that children, parents, and caregivers experience at the EarlyON Child and Family Centre in Barrie — and how donor generosity can help that magic continue.
Do you remember when you were little and you played outside for hours, digging in the sand, or swinging so high you felt like you could fly? At Empower Simcoe we are on a mission to make sure all children, regardless of ability or socio-economic status have access to safe, clean, inclusive, barrier free places to play.
At 129 Ferris Lane in Barrie, Empower Simcoe operates two exceptional programs for young children and their families. The EarlyON Child and Family Centre and the Ontario Autism Entry to School Program.
In one year, this site hosts 16,000 visits from children, parents and caregivers. EarlyON programs are universal meaning that any child of any ability can access the programs while the Ontario Autism Entry to School program supports children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Children who access these programs are between 0-6 years of age.
WHY are we building an accessible, inclusive playground and outdoor classroom?
Currently children engaging in programs at this facility do not have access to safe, accessible outdoor play and learning environments. Our goal is to expand the programming we offer indoors to include outdoor play and learning environments.
Our goal is to normalize outdoor play and learning for all children and their families. We want children with special needs to have the same opportunities as their peers. The design of this site ensures all surfaces and equipment are designed to be barrier free so Johnny who is in a wheelchair has the same opportunity to swing on the swings with his friends. Ellie who has autism spectrum disorder can play in a fenced supervised playground when she is feeling overwhelmed in the classroom. Joseph who lives in a high-rise apartment building can learn where food comes from and plant vegetables in the raised garden beds. And Petro, whose family recently left the Ukraine can make new friends in a supportive, inclusive environment.
The EarlyON Child and Family Centre is on a bus route and is in a neighbourhood where families experience more challenges than most due to lower incomes.
Recently we received the Early Development Instrument results for Simcoe County. This tool measures how well our children are doing in relation to their same aged peers across the Province of Ontario. Unfortunately, in the domain for physical health and well-being 26% percent of children in Simcoe County are vulnerable or at risk for poor outcomes. We are falling behind the province in this area. Our children’s health is important, and Empower Simcoe has the power to make a difference, but we need help.
What can you do to help our children do better? Invest in safe, inclusive spaces where all children, regardless of ability or socio-economic status or culture or race can play, learn and grow with their peers. Research tells us children do well when we invest in the early years. Your return on investment when you invest in the early years is 1:7 ratio. That’s an investment I want in on. How about you?
What can you expect from your investment? Children who play outside are at lower risk for obesity, gain valuable social skills, have better sleep, build STEM skills (science, engineering, technology and math skills) take appropriate risks and their experiences outside anchor children to the real-world helping children reduce time on devices and screens.
Your return on investment will be exceptional in one year with 16,000 visits to the site. Your long-term Return on Investment will impact thousands upon thousands of children, and who knows, in 15 years could result in one of these children who had access to this rich play and learning environment working for you. Because children who have the opportunity to build foundational skills early in life have the best possible chance of being healthy, thriving, contributing members of society.
