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PAGE 10 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 16, 1994 In designing the new Rotary Children‘s Centre, every attention has been paid to detail, and the children the facility will serve were kept in mind throughout the process. Take the sniffing garden, for example, near the building‘s front entrance. To be planted and maintained on a volunâ€" teer basis by a local gardenâ€" ing club, the garden will provide a unique educational opportunity for the children the Rotary Centre serves. As executive director of the Rotary Children‘s Centre, Swatridge has spent the last eight years envisioning the construction of a new centre to better facilitate the 1,600 children served annually by the organizaâ€" tion Now the vision is beginning to take form. Construction began on the new Rotary Children‘s Centre last April, and come September of next year, it will be in full operation. The existing Rotary Children‘s Centre, on King Street across from Kâ€" W Hospital. is cramped and cold and extremely outdated. Since its conâ€" struction in 1957, it‘s seen three additions. And six portable classrooms, limited the playground out back to "postage stamp" size. *We have a building where the heat doesn‘t work very well and if you | plug in a portable heater, you blow all the fuses. It‘s just crazy," Swaâ€" tndge says. "Many of our children are very fragile medically, and the last thing you want to be doing is working with them in 60â€"degree temperatures â€" inside * "The idea of a sniffing garâ€" den is specifically that kids can learn a little bit more about the environment," Swaâ€" tmdge says. *Kids who don‘t have the gift of sight will be able to enjoy it through the hen Stephen Swatridge looks at the construction site at the corner of Davenport and Hallmark Roads, he doesn‘t see halfâ€"built walls, dangling wires, and exposed pipes He sees skylights above an indoor, circular, temperâ€" ature controlled swimming pool. He sees a specially designed playground. He sees a beautiful garden filled with flowers and herbs and other aromatic delights. He sees children with physical challenges, learning, speech, and remedial difficulties recerving assessment, consultation, therapy and treatment in a state of the art facility. He sees a dream come true. The new facility will proâ€" s vide the organization with RiiestBigeiee double the space it has at its current location, allowing for s wellâ€"planned treatment Rotary Children‘s Centre executive director Stephy maninintee | We priemeat dinr e ans ing rooms which Swatmdge centreâ€"piece new facility OP hopes community and neighâ€" borhood groups will make use of evening and weekends. "We hope the groups in the city, including neighborhood associations, might think about us for having annual meeting and that sort of thing," Swatridge says. "In other words, we want our building to be open to the community. It‘s going to be a wonderful building and we want to share it with the people who paid for it." The facility will feature and indoor therapeutic pool. Kept at a temperature of 95 degrees, like a "nice, big bathtub", the warm water will allow children to relax their muscles for stretching and other exercises. "It‘s very much built as a children‘s pool," Swatridge says. "It‘s three feet deep and no deeper, and it has a nice wheelchair ramp." The new centre will also feature an area dedicated to technical resources where Deborah Crandall Chronwle Staff W A DREAM COME TRUE New Rotary Children‘s Centre inches closer towards reality D E L 1 G H T S 22L/1vC Ni Rotary Children‘s Centre executive director Stephen Swatridge sits in the wheelchair ramp of the halfâ€"constructed therapeutic pool. it will be the centreâ€"piece of the new facility set ot open next fail. For the first time, the Waterloo Chronicle will publish Festive Delights, a special tabloid supplement filled with Christmas recipes, good eat ideas, and Christmas dining out specials. We invite all our readers to submit your traditional holiday recipes, family favorites or new and exotic taste treats. We will attempt to publish as pieeaey, _ many as possible. Send to: Festive Delights hests c/o Waterloo Chronicle @9‘ 3 201â€"75 King St. S. » Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 se Attn: Heather Mitchell > wtukbammahu'mofihtydeficuwiflbeammizdnmiwlwmmmpwwhml- ogy will be adapted for children with disabilities. . The technical resources area will involve computers with extraâ€"large keyboards for ‘ children who have no finger control, computer keyboards activated by light beams for * _ children with movement from only the neck up (a light is strapped to the child‘s foreâ€" head), and computers that are voiceâ€"activated for children who have no hand movement. "The hope is that you can counterbalance the child‘s lack of physical skills with computer technology," Swatridge says. "So if you don‘t have hand control, you can still operate a computer." The facility will also feature and gymnasium with floorâ€"toâ€"ceiling windows that look out over a wooded area, an outdoor wheelchair training area which allows children to learn wheelchair on a variety of surfaces, and a play area with specially designed play equipment (funded by the local May Court Club and the Ronald McDonald chariâ€" peutic pool. it . says. "Functionally, this is a wellâ€"designed building. It‘s not particuâ€" next fall. larly fancy, but it works." The cost of the project is $7.4 million â€" $4.1 million was provided by the provincial government and the Rotary Centre was responsible for raising the rest. For the past four years, Rotary clubs in Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge have held bingos, car draws and "you name it" in an effort to raise money for the proâ€" ject. Together, the clubs have been successful in raising more than $600,000. Staff at the Rotary Centre raised $30,000 through bakes sales, garage sales and personal donaâ€" tions. Add that to money raised through private and corporate donations and the camâ€" paign has raised more than $3 million dollars. But there‘s still work to do if the centre is to open in September, as planned, mortgage free. "We‘re short about $250,000," Swatridge says. "So between now and the time we open next September, we need to raise another quarter of a million dollars. And our fundraisâ€" ing team is still working on that." To make a donation to the Children‘s Rotary Centre, call Stephen Swatridge at 579â€"3850. Deadline for entry: Thurs., Nov. 24 â€" Date of Publication: Wed., Nov. 30 The architectural design of the building also caters totally to the children who‘ll use the centre. All light switches, electrical outlets, and phone jacks are positioned for easy access by a child or a child in a wheelchair. And insulation is being laid under the floor of the treatâ€" ment rooms to make therapy more comfortable and warmer for chilâ€" dren who undergo treatment on the floor. "We‘ve spent hours and hours working with our staff and the archiâ€" ties organization)