ADVENTURE PLACE EARNS $50,000 AWARD IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR LEADERSHIP AND OUTSTANDING PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Toronto, October 25, 2011 – Adventure Place is being recognized by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation with the 2011 Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award for its outstanding contribution to improving the wellbeing of children and families.

“Adventure Place is a proven community leader, with almost 40 years of experience in the development and delivery of specialized services for children with special needs. Their commitment to young children and their families is evident in their unique “Continuum of Service” program model, that provides access to a web of resources under one roof. It is a privilege for the Foundation to have the opportunity to recognize the work of an organization that has had such a meaningful and continued impact on the lives of so many people”, said Emily Mathieu, Committee Chair and a Trustee of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.

Adventure Place has been a leader in the Toronto area in providing services to approximately 6653 children/parents annually. In 2009, the agency’s founding Executive Director, Clara Will, was made a Member of the Order of Canada, in recognition of her work and commitment to young children and families. The agency was one of the first of its kind to identify the importance of a service model that integrates effective and accessible services for disadvantaged children with systems, policy development and reform. The Adventure Place model integrates three levels of service: Prevention, Early Intervention and Intensive Day Treatment Programs. All agency services work to assist children in achieving their potential. Services are wrapped around families as they require them and they are family centred.

“I am happy to hear that Adventure Place was selected as this year’s recipient of the Ruth Hindmarsh Award. It is indeed an honour to receive such a prestigious award. Mrs. Hindmarsh recognized the vulnerability inherent in children as she dedicated herself to making a meaningful difference in their lives. We share Mrs. Hindmarsh’s commitment and dedication to young children and we will continue to find new ways to reach out and support families in our community. On behalf of the Board of Directors at Adventure Place, I want to thank Dr. Fraser Mustard for nominating Adventure Place for this award, and I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Atkinson Foundation for recognizing the services we offer to children and families”, said Cheryl Webb Executive Director, Adventure Place.

The Award is presented annually in memory of Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh, president of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation until her death in 1994. Established in 1998 to improve the lives of disadvantaged children, the $50,000 award is the largest of its kind in Canada.

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For more information: Christine Avery Nuñez, Atkinson Charitable Foundation, 416-869-4584

TORONTO STAR COVERAGE:
Oct 24 2011

Hindmarsh award goes to Adventure Place centre

A special-needs child at the Adventure Place Child and Family Centre washes a doll in the centre's pretend hospital. The centre has been awarded the the 2011 Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award. (Oct. 24, 2011)

Keith Beaty/Toronto Star

Ashante Infantry
Staff Reporter

Packing bags for an imaginary holiday, dressing up like a nurse and bandaging a doll, all seem like typical child’s play, but at Adventure Place such activities are regarded as crucial teaching tools for kids with special needs.

“Play gives children the opportunity to create, imagine, interact, experience, explore, engage, imitate, to test theories and to develop and refine skills,” said Cheryl Webb, executive director of the agency which provides comprehensive mental health, social and developmental services to young children and families, residing primarily within the boundaries of North York.

The agency has been selected from 27 nominees across the province for the 2011 Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award.

“They’ve been in existence since 1972 and they were really ahead of the game around a multi-service organization serving families with early intervention treatment services,” said Christine Nunez, managing director of the Atkinson Foundation which distributes the award.

“They’ve really looked at how you can coordinate and integrate some of the best programs and services available for children with special needs.”

More than 6,500 youngsters and families receive treatment annually through Adventure Place’s continuum of prevention, early intervention, and treatment services, courtesy of a staff of 85 that includes social workers, psychologists, early childhood specialists and music and speech therapists.

Founded by now retired educator Clara Will, the centre is housed at the defunct McNicoll Public School in the Don Mills Rd.-Finch Ave. area.

It administers mainly to kids from birth to six years experiencing disorders, such as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, behavioural and emotional problems, as well as those at risk through poverty.

The award, which comes with $50,000, was established in 1989 to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and named for Hindmarsh, a former foundation president and daughter of legendary Toronto Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson, who ran the newspaper for almost 50 years.

“We’re looking to use the money to help us reach out to more kids and families,” Webb said. “We don’t have enough funding right now to meet the needs. We can’t service all the kids who have been referred to us, but we know that there’s quite a large clientele of families that just never find their way to us. They don’t know about us. We’re trying to come up with new ways to reach out and inform them of the services that we have.”