The Children's Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent (CTC-CK) has officially leaped its last hurdle.
That’s because the project has now raised the $10 million needed to complete the state-of-the-art facility.
The CTC-CK received $59 million from the Ontario Government, however, the community needed to raise funds to cover the costs for furnishings, equipment, and more.
“We made it, we made it,” said Mike Genge, president of the CTC-CK.
At the beginning of the October, the project still needed around $850,000. That’s when the ‘Build for the Kids’ campaign launched in hopes of raising the funds.
From Oct. 7 – 20, multiple events were held in hopes of collecting donations.
Over $339,000 was raised on the first day of the campaign thanks to donations from local service groups and businesses.
Over the next 13 days, another $540,000 was collected with the Laprise family getting the CTC-CK to its goal.
“They called me, ‘listen we want to participate, we want to do this’ and they gave us $36,000,” added Genge.
Schools across Chatham-Kent also helped raise $6,000 by selling $2 crafted butterflies in honour of the facility which will be called the Butterfly Building.
Overall, Genge said the events held over the past two weeks were nothing short of fun. This included a Halloween Bash at Red Barn Brewing.
“The owner of Red Barn is doing a dance and stuffing tens and twenties into his pants. It was just hilarious,” said Henge.
The 58,000 square foot facility at McNaughton Avenue and Bear Line Road is expected to be finished by the end of 2025 and open in early 2026.
