Larry Pynn
Sun
The YMCA’s Susan Low (centre), with children at the new Bob and Kay Ackles YMCA Nanook House. Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
The Bob and Kay Ackles YMCA Nanook House officially opens today to help disadvantaged children living in the Mount Pleasant community.
Ackles, the late B.C. Lions president and chief executive officer who served on the YMCA’s board of directors, and his wife Kay raised $2.2 million toward the $3.8-million goal. Ackles died of a heart attack on July 6, 2008, at age 69.
Nanook House opened in 1979 in a 1,500-square-foot portable building capable of handling 25 preschoolers. The fundraising campaign has allowed for construction of a new 5,600-square-foot building plus two outdoor play fields capable of handling 12 more children and providing additional programs for parents.
Susan Low, vice-president and general manager of YMCA child care, said in an interview that Ackles, once an east-end kid himself, took a genuine interest in the program.
“He came down on a regular basis, he’d play football with the kids,” she said. “He brought a bus down many times and took them to the football games. He really connected with them.”
Nanook House, at 1255 East 10th Ave., is a child care and family development centre for children aged 18 months to five years. The program involves nutrition, physical activity, communication skills, and literacy aimed at preparing children for success in school.
Programs are also offered for parents, who may be impoverished, suffering from mental illness, raising children on their own, or victims of abusive relationships.
According to Human Early Learning Partnership, a collaboration of six universities, Mount Pleasant is among the Lower Mainland’s most vulnerable areas, with 34 to 66 per cent of children developmentally vulnerable. The YMCA still needs $315,000 to finish Nanook House as well as $100,000 to operate it each year. To donate, visit www.vanymca.org or call 604-681-9622.
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