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The George Jeffrey Children's Centre is a non-profit charitable organization with strong community ties dating back to 1948 when the Kiwanis Club and the Lakehead Cerebral Palsy Parents' Council worked together to establish the J.B. Larway School. From this early beginning serving preschool children with disabilities, the Centre has grown to serve all of Northwestern Ontario with a variety of services and innovative and specialized programming. In 1961, through the efforts of the Kiwanis Club, the Centre was incorporated as the Thunder Bay Crippled Children Centre. As the Centre grew, new facilities were built on our current site and officially opened in June 1969 as the Northwestern Ontario Crippled Children Centre. An 18-bed residence, now closed, was added in 1978 to provide treatment and care for children with disabilities from surrounding communities. Our Centre was renamed the George Jeffrey Children's Treatment Centre in 1983 in honour of Mr. George Jeffrey, a former Chairman of our Board and our Director for many years, for his dedication to children with disabilities.
Today, the Centre continues to evolve and we are at the beginning of an exciting new phase in our development. We are launching a capital campaign for a new building and we have changed our name to The George Jeffrey Children's Centre to better reflect our mandate to serve children of all ages and abilities in our region. The Centre is funded by the Ministry of Children & Youth Services. The Ministry of Community & Social Services funds our Community Day Care and Integrated Services for Northern Children is funded by the Ministry of Community & Social Services, the Ministry of Children & Youth Services, and the Ministry of Education. We are also dependent upon donations to sustain and enhance programs and to purchase specialty equipment.
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