How a new home in Windsor will help children with disabilities and their families

Following a $2.2-million fundraising effort, anew space is opening up for people with disabilities in Windsor and Essex County. The grand opening for the SolczFamily Foundation Respite Home is taking place today.

"The fact that we have this new accessible space for the children, the youth, of coursethe parents and even our staff, it's just absolutely amazing," said Alexandria Fischer, who doescommunity relationswith Family Respite Services.

"We're so excited.It's emotional."

The organization works with 1,200 families of children with disabilities to developrespite support plans so that parents can havea break from caring for their child with significant challenges. And at the same time, the children can engage in activities andbe social with their peers.

"That might mean a direct support provider going into the family's home, or that might mean a child or youth coming to one of our respite homes to spend the weekend with our staff, or a summer day camp," Fischer said.

The home will open its doors next week and a specialized summer day camp program will be offered.

Adrianna Mayea-Bennett'sson Donnovan,who is on the autism spectrum,has been engaged in Family Respiteprogramming for almostdecade, taking part in the Weekend with Friends program.

She saidhe loved it immediately.

"He looks forward to going even now... it's a place where he can go hang out with friends. And that was difficult for him to make friends. So they kind of facilitated that for him," she said.

Facing a long wait list, Family Respite was looking to expand three years ago. The organization hadbeen operating out of its current location for a few decades.

The new home cost $2.2-million,and the projectwent ahead without anyfinancial support from the government.

The home is named for theSolcz family, who contributed$725,000dollars toward the home. The rest of the money was generated through other donations from the community.

Kyrsten Solcz,the executive director of the Solcz foundation, said the accessibility factor is the main difference between the old home and the new.

"The new home has fully accessible washrooms. The bedrooms are all accessible. It's all on one floor. There is a basement component, but the majority of the home is used on the first floor for children and youth. There's a fully accessible playground."