At the first meeting of Kelowna's newly branded 100 Heroes Who Give a Damn, the big winner was the Child Advocacy Centre of Kelowna. Over $15 thousand was raised for the project. The new facility is under construction right now. The aim is to build a place that will be home to an RCMP section, Interior Health, and the Ministry of Children and Families. But the main goal is to create a place where kids feel safe and supported through a difficult time.
The project is spearheaded by the Kelowna Foundation. Spokesperson Ginny Becker stopped in at KelownaNow to tell us about the Centre and what it's going to mean for Kelowna.
"It's an unfortunate, staggering statistic,' said Becker. "In the province of BC the number is one in three children have been impacted by severe or significant abuse."
The way things are now, children sometimes have to describe an incident over and over while they go through the process. Becker said that can add to the trauma. "This changes the way, as a community, that we respond to instances of child abuse."
The new Child Advocacy Centre of Kelowna could be open and running as early as June of 2019.
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