REGINA - Two years ago, the SCEP Centre was forced to move their non-profit organization from a school, unsure of where they were headed next.
The non-profit group educates young children and help them better socialize and communicate. Many of these children come from low-income families or families that have experienced hardships in the past.
After moving their base into a local home in the Highland Park area, the organization noticed the outside of the house was not suitable for children to play around, fearing for their safety.
The workers at the SCEP Centre knew something had to be done, so they wanted to invest in building a fence. Luckily for them, a quote-on-quote "accident occurred," leading to more than just a fence being built.
Shauna Forbes, executive director at the SCEP Centre, recalled the day when a firefighter came by and offered them the help they needed.
"We had a firefighter come to meet with some of our children whose families had been devastated by [a] fire. He came to meet with the children so that they could meet a firefighter in a non-emergency situation. But he was also a tradesperson. He [had] a lot of construction stuff. So we asked him, I think the very first thing was, would you know anybody that could help us build a fence? Or at least give us a fair quote because we didn't know what a fence would really cost. And he said, oh yeah, sure. We have a lot of firefighters that do that kind of work. And so yeah, we can do that for you. And I think he went away thinking, no, we're going to do a whole lot more. And so the project just blew up."
The firefighter, Jay Ott, was part of the Hydrants and Hearts, a non-profit charity organization from Regina consisting of hundreds of firefighters from the area.
The Hydrants and Hearts and the SCEP Centre worked together, enlisting the help of a landscape architect. After brainstorming some ideas, Ott realized they needed to do fundraisers to help cover the cost of the project.
The Hydrants and Hearts also chipped into covering the costs, with their own donation.
After holding multiple fundraisers, the project broke ground in August 2024. All the work was done within a couple of months, said Forbes.
Once the project had finished, the workers at the SCEP Centre couldn’t believe the changes of the outside thanks to the renovations.
Parent coordinator with SCEP Centre, Michel Klewchuk, described the support from the community as "quite remarkable." She added, "we [the workers of the SCEP Centre] never imagined it would expand to this. It was spearheaded by one fellow [Jay Ott]. And then the rest of the group just kind of got on board, and then they were part of it. As we got to meet the firefighters, we [got to know] very much of their culture of taking care of others, supporting their own, and [they] kind of took us in as their own, which was really quite amazing."
Forbes gave a lot of credit to Ott and his group for making various 'cold calls' to pitch the ideas to landscapers, contractors and more.
Forbes was also amazed by the contractors from similar areas working together so amazingly. She described their jobs "as very competitive" and, typically, companies only want to work on their own projects, not with others.
Typically, non-profit groups get help from various organizations for donations or projects through advertising and connections.
However, the SCEP Centre has been reluctant to self-promote themselves because of their field of work. They understand the challenges families and their kids have gone through and don’t want to use that as a means for people to know the group is out there.
Klewchuk noted how the non-profit group was "chugging along" for over 50 years of history and "doing their own little thing for the program." She added, "It was an interesting mind shift to kind of think of that, yeah, you know, that people in our community would be stepping up [for us]."
Klewchuk pointed out the importance of the children having a place to play outside. "There's all kinds of research that actually talks about what outdoor playing exploration does for children's brains and their development and their growth. And so it's a really, really important piece. And we tried, and we did it, but it was tricky. It was tricky without a fence, and it was tricky without the play space that we have now."
Most of the children at the SCEP Centre don’t have places to play outside of their residences because they live in an apartment or a house without a proper backyard to play in.
With the upgrades to the outside of the new SCEP Centre, the group wants to dedicate an area to a former board member, Dr. Pat Hutchinson who passed away years ago.
Hutchinson’s estate donated money to the SCEP Centre over the past two years, which was used to help the group cover the costs. Forbes mentioned how "outdoor play and physical activity [for kids] was really important to her [Hutchinson]."
In terms of donations and project costs, the non-profit group still has to cover between $20,000 and $25,000 from the project.
Forbes mentioned they put in extra investment from their original costs to ensure the outside was safe for children by having an actual fence rather than a chain link, and the non-profit group asked for grass that required less maintenance for them because they don’t employ a yard worker.
Anyone who wants to help cover the costs can make a donation at scepcentre.com.
