Bowen Island Family Place has a new home: it now shares with the teenagers from the Bowen Youth Centre.
Family Place celebrated its arrival on Carter Rd. on Thursday, Sept. 15. The space will be used by wee ones in the morning and, after easily achieved alterations, will turn into a youth centre in the evening.
The Youth Centre/Family Place space is downstairs in the building that houses the Bowen Children's Centre. Family Place operates under the children's centre's umbrella.
Islander, and interior designer, Stacey Powers created a forest mural for the space and she and Kate Markham-Zantvoort spent some 55 volunteer hours each painting the wall. It's a design intended to work for both toddlers and teens.
Ann Silberman, executive director of the Bowen Children's Centre, said that when Family Place needed a larger space, sharing was the answer. Christine Walker at municipal hall was an important part of making it happen.
Silberman also applauded the youth centre's Matt Neufeld and John Stiver as well as Powers for the many volunteer hours she put into the project. "She came up with the vision of what it would look like and of how the space would work physically," Silberman said. "Without Stacey it just wouldn't have happened like this. It just wouldn't have happened."
Vera Keogh said she moved here with her family from Ireland in June and that Family Place has been a great help. "Both children and adults are made to feel welcome here and we can meet new people in a relaxed setting," Keogh said. "And this is a spacious new facility and the decor is wonderful."
Family Place is open for newborns to children 6 years old, with a parent or caregiver, on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the pot-luck snack served at 11. On Fridays there is a drop-in for expecting moms and moms with babies 0-12 months from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
