SASKATOON -- SaskAbilities celebrated the grand opening of its Saskatoon day program for people with intellectual disabilities on Friday.
The program, located in Saskatoon’s Sutherland neighbourhood, will offer recreational activities meant to help people with intellectual disabilities develop skills which can be used at work.
The provincial government will provide $140,000 in capital start-up funds and $134,000 will be set aside in yearly funding.
“We are so grateful that this program and the renovations of the facility are supported through the Ministry of Social Services, without their funding we wouldn’t be able to operate this program,” SaskAbilities executive director Ian Wilkinson said.
Social Services Minister Paul Merriman attended the program's official opening and also assisted with the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“We have had an ongoing relationship with SaskAbilities, we wanted to make sure that we had their capital costs covered and their operating costs because it is great to help with capital but we also want to make sure that it is an ongoing commitment from our government with SaskAbilities and the people with different abilities.”
Seven people have enrolled in the SaskAbilities day program, with an additional 50 people expected to join in the coming months.
