Clinton News-Record, 1987-10-14, Page 47--
They said it won't work
in 1977. many people told then cu-
.niinator Ann St. Jean that a day cen-
tre would not work in this area Ten
,ars later. she stood before a crowd
no w ere out to celebrate the Huron
Day Centre For The Homebound's an -
nn ersar\ . that 'heart and soul• made
ct w urk
It's easy to say 'forget IC because
these people have heavy work loads.
but they didn't." said Mrs. St Jean
Mrs St. Jean was working at
Maitland Manor in Goderich when she
w as asked to sit on a comnuttee which
was established to organize the Centre
Her prevwus experience in a city was
an a„est the committee was looking
for
6i e made proposals to the ministry .
and we had to re -write those pro-
posals.- she recalls. But out of that
commitment came the first rural day
centre
Mrs St Jean listed a nuinber, of
words which she felt were vital to a day
centre The first was directed at the
clients
Courage It takes a lot of courage to
put 'our confidence in strangers and
oine out and join others you don't know
,4 hen ‘ uu re feeling low It takes
Ann St. Jean, the first co-ordinator of
the Huron Day Centre For The Home-
bound. was present at the 10th anniver-
sary celebrations on September 15. As
guest speaker, she gave a brief history
of the Centre, throwing in a few per-
sonal recollections. l Anne Narejko
photos
courage with a capital 'C'.
'*The next word is volunteers - angel.
with happy faces. They give the gift of
loving and caring.
-Then there are organizers. To
Rosemary 1 Armstrong i and staff and
all the organizers who put their heart
and soul into the Centre, that's the
description of day care.”
Mrs. St. Jean also said she ap-
preciated the gift she was given for her
birthday in 1977. This gift was an assis-
tant co-ordinator, Rosemary Arm-
strong, who became the co-ordinator
when Mrs. St. Jean left in 1979 because
her husband was transferred.
As an aside, Mrs. St. Jean shared the
story of the first day centre client with
the group gathered in the auditorium on
September 15. She said, "1 remeber the
first client, after the first day saying to
us, 'If that's all we're going to do, I'm
not corning back.'
"I don't remember what we did that
day, but he did come back."
Today, the Huron Day Centre
averages 17-20 people per day with 65-70
full time regular clients, and what Mrs.
Armstrong calls. "Fifty wonderful
volunteers-"
7Zeite witfe
CONGRATULATIONS
TO THE HURON DAY
CENTRE
•A•
000
on your 10th Anniversary of service
to the homebound of Goderich,
Clinton and area.
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