A donation of $300,000 from Medavie Health Services for Chatham-Kent Child and Family Services programming will help with a variety of issues currently being faced by local youth.
The funding was announced on Wednesday as part of the partnership between the child services and the Safe Families Institute -- an organization based out of Halifax, dedicated to providing intervention for children and youth who suffer from problems like behaviour challenges, anxiety and/or depression, and bed-wetting.
"Over the next two years, children and families in the Chatham-Kent region will be able to access our services through Chatham-Kent children services and get direct access," said Dr. Patricia Linley-Pottie, the president and CEO of the institute. "There is no wait, there's no need to travel or take time off work or school because our staff are telephone coaches work day or night so families can have convenient appointment times."
All of the money donated is staying in the municipality and will go toward helping roughly 300 families, helping to reduce wait times for services and providing help to families in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
"It's a very significant and generous donation," said Lingley-Pottie. "If we can continue to look at organizations who are generous enough to give these types of donations... we are going to help children and families lead healthier and happier lives in the future."
The $300,000 contribution will be dispersed over the next two years.