The Ohana Centre sees community groups merge

Two groups have come together in Bonnyville to create The Ohana Centre.

On Saturday, families were welcomed to the old Bonnyville Youth Club and Bonnyville Daycare sites for an open house, in what has now become The Ohana Centre.

These organizations have merged to become one group, explained Kim Harvie, who had been discussing the idea of a summer program with Sasha Johnston from the Youth Club.

That’s how the ball got rolling.

“We found that we were providing the same service to our community, but competing against each other. And we said why compete with each other when we’re serving the same demographics,” she told Lakeland Connect. “So that’s one of the main reasons why we came together. And then also now the Youth Centre is able to offer a subsidy for parents for childcare.” 

Kids were able to enjoy some cake, while touring the classrooms that had various activities. When completing these activities on their punch card, they were entered into a draw to win a big candy tree.

There is also a gym space with little play structures for toddlers to enjoy.

In the old Youth Club space, there is an area for arts and crafts, furniture, foosball and air hockey, a reading corner, and pile of dirt to play in as well.

Tucked into the corner is a calm space that allows for a gentler area for self regulation.

“We wanted to utilize the Youth Centre as much as possible. So our future goal, hopefully in a year to two, is to offer family programming and programming for older children — the demographic of 12, 13, 14 years old, that really isn’t reached in our community right now,” said Harvie. 

The word Ohana means family in Hawaiian. The group decided to search out different terms for family across over 50 languages before landing on this one.

Harvie said it’s still a work in progress to being fully functional, but hope they make strides in the near future.

“We can take 30 out of school care children right now. We actually have a capacity for 45, but we are having a difficult time finding staff. So once we find staff and are fully staffed, then we can even meet more community needs so. Right now, we service numerous schools in the community. We serve Ecole des Beaux Lacs, Duclos, Dr. Brosseau, and Notre Dame Elementary.