Our Kids Count hosting community event to showcase new spaces, future plans
Our Kids Count (OKC) is inviting the Thunder Bay community down to their facilities on McKenzie Street to kick off a fundraising campaign and showcase their new spaces.
During the event, the organization is launching its Building Block Campaign, which aims to raise roughly $2.7 million to grow and expand some of its programs.
“With the rising costs in our community around food and other basic needs, OKC programming is needed more than ever, and Our Kids Count is responding to the need by developing new spaces that allow for more families to be able to access and participate,” explained Executive Director Jackie Knough.
“The event this weekend is really about bringing families together, community partners and everyone to come and see what we’re doing. We are going to be giving tours of the new spaces. We’re going to have a free BBQ thanks to sponsors, face painting, crafts and all kinds of things for the children and families to do.”
The event is taking place on Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 704 McKenzie Street and along the block.
Part of the event will be showcasing the organization’s vision for its properties on McKenzie.
“It’s close to the whole block from 704, where we currently are, all the way down to the corner where it used to be the old Circle K that is going to be developed into a new community hub,” added Knough.
“That’s going to have a kitchen and our food cupboard, where families can come and learn how to cook and attend our community breakfast and dinners.
In July, OKC opened its early learning centre in the basement of its initial home location.
This necessitated the acquisition of the old Circle K, which is now going to house OKC’s food security programs, which were displaced by the centre’s opening.
“We’re really making that space accessible and inclusive of everyone in the community,” said Knough.
OKC has also purchased a house between their initial location at 704 McKenzie Street and the old Circle K.
The plan is to develop the house’s backyard into a green space for the children attending the Early Learning Centre.
The inside of the house is going to be used as a training facility for OKC’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Program and some of its admin offices.
The upstairs of the original location is going to be developed into a larger space where OKC can provide education and training to families, and community partners will also be able to access this space.
“It’s really exciting,” added Knough. “It’s kind of all coming together, as the renovations of the hub will start in November, and then in 2026, we will focus more on the training facility.”
The organization’s fundraising campaign is expected to be a five-year effort.
They have already received contributions from the province that will be announced at the event.
Local organizations like the Fort William Rotary have also stepped up to lend a helping hand.
Knough noted that despite the five-year campaign, they are over halfway to their fundraising goal.
