BARRHEAD - Fort Assiniboine and Goose Lake residents who want or need to access Family Community Support Services (FCSS) programming will no longer have to travel to do so.
Fort Assiniboine and Goose Lake residents can now access Family Community Support Services (FCSS) programming with much more ease. The Barrhead and District FCSS have opened a satellite office in the Hamlet of Fort Assiniboine's Recreation and Agricultural Centre.
Community support coordinator Vernice Aitken will staff the office every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For over 50 years, the Barrhead and District FCSS. It is one of the more unique FCSS organizations in the province as a not-for-profit society, a testament to its commitment to serving the community.
Typically, FCSSes operate as branches of municipal governments and are funded through operational grants from the province and municipal governments they serve using an 80/20 formula, with the province providing the larger share. This funding is restricted to preventative programs.
Although the Barrhead FCSS receives and operates programs using this funding as a charitable society, the organization can fundraise for programs that would usually be outside their purview, such as the food bank, Santa's Toy Box and Christmas hampers, and its Hungary Kids program.
The Barrhead FCSS has provided services to Woodlands County residents in the Fort Assiniboine and Goose Lake region for several years through a contract with the municipality, but access to programming was limited to the Barrhead office due to funding.
Woodlands County's annual contract with the Barrhead FCSS was capped at $12,500 for several years.
However, a recent social needs assessment and Barrhead FCSS observations indicated that the area's residents needed more services than the funding allowed.
So, when the time came to negotiate the new three-year contract (the previous contract expired on Dec. 31, 2023), Woodlands County increased their contribution to $58,000 annually, allowing the Barrhead FCSS to expand its programming to the area.
Woodlands County Goose Lake Freeman River Coun. Peter Kuelken, a newly added FCSS director, said he was pleased that the municipality could continue and expand its partnership with the not-for-profit society.
"Barrhead FCSS and its board have always been tremendously good to us in Fort Assiniboine," he said. "Now, with the [Barrhead FCSS suboffice], it will allow the organization to provide the residents with even better service. And I can't think of a better person than Vernice Aitken to head up the office as she and her family have been great community members and know what is happening in the area."
FCSS chairperson Leslie Penny called the opening of the satellite office a tremendous event.
"I'm not sure any of us ever thought this would happen, but this is what can happen when you have people with vision and passion because when you have those two things together, it is amazing what can happen," she said.
Town of Barrhead councillor and FCSS board member Anthony Oswald also welcomed the expansion, noting that not only would the satellite office allow the organization to better serve area residents but having Woodlands County take a more active role, with the addition of a board member, would benefit FCSS.
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