Répit Emergo, at 50, continues to offer a welcome break
An organization that provides crucial respite care to families with autistic members is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a fundraising drive.
Répit Emergo has 220 member families across the province, with most centred in Montreal and its suburbs. Every other weekend, from September to May, Emergo takes between 15 and 20 autistic people aged 4 and older to Camp de Granpré in Otterburn Park near Beloeil. The organization also offers nine-night re-spites during summer at the same campsite. Part of their mandate is to support families by providing participants an opportunity to gain some independence and develop skills away from home and “by offering meaningful breaks that benefit everyone,” according to the website.
Réetta Hasanen, the executive director of the organization’s fundraising arm, Fondation Emergo, is also the parent of a child who has been a beneficiary of the respite weekends and camp for the past 10 years.
She recalls it wasn’t easy at first to let her non-verbal daughter, now 18, leave home. “The first weekend I cleaned the entire house to keep busy,” she said with a laugh. “Seeing her so happy has allowed me to relax, and it also took some years to accept that this is going to be necessary.”
The break allows Hasanen to spend some focused time with her younger daughter and do things the family can’t normally do, like going to a restaurant.
In summer, the organization rents a second camp in Val des Lacs in the Laurentians. Up to 27 participants stay anywhere from four to nine nights between mid-June and mid-August and are taken care of by some 55 staff members. Like any camp, there is a lot of music, dancing and spending time in nature.
Pierre Ricard, Répit Emergo’s executive director, said competition for donor dollars is fierce but with current high living costs, as well as demand for specialized services for autistic children, the need is great. “The first respite is not necessarily a respite because [many nervous] parents stay next to the phone,” he said. “We do a lot of surveys, and the results are always positive.”
Families pay a portion of the camp or weekend respite costs, and subsidies are available from the CLSC and Emergo’s foundation.
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C.A.R.E. marks 30th anniversary
The centre d’activités récréatives et éducatives, also known as the C.A.R.E. Centre, has been offering recreational and educational activities to adults with physical disabilities for over 30 years.
Though it was incorporated in 1995, it actually started a decade earlier for three days a week in a science lab in what is now the St. Pius X Career Centre.
Growing from its grassroots beginnings marked a solution for parents who needed a place for their children over the age of 21 who could no longer attend youth sector schools.
Most of the clients come from the Mackay Centre School. Located in the building that houses Wagar Adult Education Centre and John Grant High School, it offers an educational and recreational program as well as outings in the community five days a week. In the summer, activities involve community outings only.
– S.M.
Adam’s P.A.C.E. marks two-decade milestone
Adam’s P.A.C.E. rang in its 20th anniversary this year by celebrating over 80 graduates.
The program was created by Ann Taylor and named in memory of her son Adam, who had Down syndrome and was battling leukemia.
He was among the first students to participate, which helped realize his dream of attending Champlain College.
The program, a collaboration between Champlain College and Riverside School Board, offers youth with developmental difficulties between the ages of 17 and 23 an opportunity to audit classes at the college.
They receive hands-on job training and learn life skills to enable them to lead a more independent life.
“Adam has left us this incredible legacy, and this year we honour his contribution,” Taylor said.
–S.M.
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