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Golden Childcare Resource and Referral and Early Years centre provide resources and activities for families

Golden Star - 2/12/2018

The Golden Child Care Resource and Referral has been supporting the Golden community since 1984.

The CCRR provides referrals to child care providers, has a resource library, does supportive home and facility visits, helps with child care business start up information and guidance, assists with administrative issues, provides child care subsidy information and information about other resources and programs, provides networking opportunities, and has a number of supplies available and access to laminators, photocopiers, fax services, and Internet access.

"We also have our toy lending library, which is pretty awesome," added Kim Weatherall, CCRR consultant and East Kootenay Community Action Program for Children coordinator.

The CCRR is in the same building as the Early Years Centre, but in a separate office.

Both of the facilities are open to the public, and are a place where parents and kids can go to play with toys, use the washrooms, nurse, and participate in programs that are run out of the Early Years Centre.

"I would say probably the most important thing is that it is a central based hub for all things in the early years grid," Weatherall explained. "It is really important in our location and our hours that there is a place for someone to stop in and change diapers or feed their baby."

The Early Years centre and CCRR are open year round to provide support and programs.

"In the middle of winter, there's somewhere for them to play all week. In the summer, if there's bad air quality or it's really hot out, there's somewhere they can all gather," Weatherall said.

The location makes it easy for families who live in and out of town to gather without having to go to someone else's home, or drive from one side of Golden to the other.

"It's really nice for those communities to have a place centralized in town that they can gather. You can make a whole morning of it, to have somewhere to go," she added. "It's nice to have a spot they can go and they can play. We're also super connected and able to put people in contact with specialists or answer questions."

One of the programs Weatherall runs through CAPC at the Early Years Centre is baby talk, which is geared toward families with babies age birth to one year. It focuses on speech pathology, and a handful of families participate in it.

Each of the programs that run at the Early Years Centre are around an hour long. A new program, family night out, is starting up soon. It includes free child minding, a free dinner, and a little bit of learning.

To find out more information about the resources available at CCRR, visit www.goldencommunityresources.ca, call 250-344-4996, or visit the office from Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m.

A schedule of upcoming and ongoing programs is available on the Golden Community Resources Society calendar under the events section on the CCRR website.