After a long wait, the foundation of the new West Central Abilities Day Program building on 1st Street East in Kindersley is finally coming to shape. The old building, which is in the industrial area of Kindersley, is long overdue to be moved out of by clients and staff of West Central Abilities, and the foundation for the new Day Program building is a step in the right direction. Guests from all levels of government and West Central Abilities showed up to the special sod turning held on September 22. This included Kindersley MLA Ken Francis, who was at the presentation on behalf of Social Services Minister Lori Carr. 

“First of all, I just wanted to know how grateful I am and our government is, for the support that West Central Abilities has provided to the community, the residents and people with intellectual disabilities for almost 50 years. I've decided to be with you here today so we can celebrate and continued partnerships between different levels of government along with the private sector. And this project is proof that when everybody works together, great things can happen,” Francis said. 

Next up at the podium was Kindersley mayor Rod Perkins, and he was happy to finally see this project get underway. 

“This has been a long old battle. I'm sure that Kim and her staff, and all the board of Directors and the patrons, are more than happy to see this day and actually see some building going on in this empty lot that I've been looking at for quite a few years across the street. West Central Abilities have been in this community for a long time. I've been here for 40 plus years and we can always remember the group homes. 

It’s going to be so much handier to get to (the new one). You don't have to be going across the highway to access the old facility which has got a lot of miles on it, I'm sure, so I think that it's just a plus, and as mayor who's been encouraging downtown development for the last five years, I think this is a huge plus. It may not be right on Main Street, but it's not very far off, so we appreciate the new building going up and I think it'll it's a real enhancement to our community. 

I wish you nothing but the best of luck in getting this up and going, and joining with Ken and happy to be here to cut the ribbon and make this facility officially visible,” Perkins said. 

And last at the podium, was Mr. Lorne Pincemin, Councilor of Division 5 in the RM of Kindersley, who was happy to help West Central Abilities get the new Day Program project moving forward. 

“I am pleased to be here to bring greetings on behalf of the item of Kindersley. We're very, very excited to see this project move forward. It happened to be quite a coincidence when Kim came to our meeting to make a request for fund raising and just a couple weeks before that, a friend of ours, a family friend, came and she had used to work at the West Central Abilities. She came and wanted to stop by her old workplace, reminisce and see how things have changed, and she said, nothing has changed in 35 years.  They're working out of the same facility. And so, when Kim came that was top of mind for me. We knew they had done a ton of work and a lot of fundraising and they just needed a little help to get over the top. So, we decided that was the time to reach out and get our municipality partners together and I think there's many surrounding our RMs and the Town worked together to kind of push it over the top. 

So, we're just super excited that this is going ahead. This facility is very, very needed and it should last for many years to come and so. Again, we're just very excited and happy that's moving forward,” Pincemin said.  

The new Day Program building’s exterior is expected to be completed this winter, with it scheduled to be moved into during the spring of 2022.