C.A.R.E. is a godsend to families, mine included

As president of the board of directors of the Centre d’activités récréatives et éducatives (C.A.R.E.) and as a mother of an adult son who attends the centre, I have much to say about the organization.

For those of you who are not aware of C.A.R.E., it is the only program of its kind for the English sector that provides recreational and educational activities for adults 21 years and older with severe physical disabilities. C.A.R.E. was born in 1986 out of the need for children who had graduated from the Mackay Centre School and had no available options for further education or integration. At the time, parents were told their children would have to remain at home or be institutionalized as there was nowhere for English-speaking young adults with severe physical disabilities to go in Montreal. So parents got together to form a continuing education program along with the help of the English Montreal School Board, and this has evolved into the C.A.R.E. Centre we know today. The organization was incorporated in 1995 and is now housed in the Wagar Adult Education Centre building.

Without this program, a couple would have to decide which one of them would have to quit their job to stay home with their adult child. If you were a single parent, you would have to quit your job and go on welfare in order to stay at home to take care of your child. If this wasn’t an option, you would have to institutionalize your child, and presently the waiting list is 13 years. 

This program is a godsend to families and enhances the lives of adults with severe physical disabilities through supporting their communication, education, spiritual and physical well-being, social inclusion, and provides respite for caregivers.

Because we are the only program of its kind, C.A.R.E. has become in demand and sadly has a growing waiting list. Because C.A.R.E. is a not-for-profit organization and therefore requires funding and government assistance, we are constantly looking for new funding, patrons, and increased government support to grow in order to provide services to those on our waiting list and to those who are ageing out of the education system with nowhere to go.

Please take the time to check out our website to see who we are and what we do, and become a friend of C.A.R.E.

Visit C.A.R.E. at https://www.carecentre.org/.

Did you attend Wagar High School? If you did, join your alumni in raising funds for the C.A.R.E. Centre. Read all about this unique fundraising initiative here: https://www.thesuburban.com/life/community/wager-alumni-join-forces-to-raise-funds-for-c-a-r-e-centre-in-csl/article_a551e058-af47-11eb-a5e6-03fd4ea428f3.html?fbclid=IwAR3YgWhqfPwIp1OLc8WtVw4X2FkF5oSdvTvO4pq8qzl2MG3nirA_6cSCrso.

Joanne Charron is the president of the board of directors of C.A.R.E. Centre, a recreational and educational day program for adults over the age of 21 with physical disabilities, and is special advisor