Pathways celebrating 50 years in Sarnia-Lambton

Pathways Health Center for Children is marking 50 years in Sarnia-Lambton with a series of celebrations.

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“It’s a very exciting milestone for Pathways,” CEO Alison Morrison said about the five decades since the children’s treatment center opened its doors in 1975.

Several fundraisers and special events are planned throughout the year, including a spring open house, and an enhanced annual general meeting to honor volunteers, board members and others in June, Morrison said.

But she’s hoping community members who’ve been impacted during the years by the facility that provides services such as speech and recreational therapy for youngsters also will share their stories, she said.

Starting Jan. 14, people can share their experiences at pathwayscentre.org as part of an “electronic postcard campaign.” she said.

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Hopes are to highlight those stories and the ways Pathways has made a difference throughout the year, she said, noting the organization also is sharing a fact about Pathways every week for 50 weeks.

Up first was recognizing the pivotal role the Rotary Club of Sarnia has played in the organization’s history, as part of a group which recognized in the 1940s the need for a children’s treatment center in Sarnia-Lambton, Morrison said.

Advocacy and lots of trips to London for services happened in the intervening decades before Pathways – which has changed names a number of times – was incorporated in 1970, and opened its doors on Murphy Road in Sarnia five years later, Morrison said.

“When that building opened, there was a . . . small staff that was anticipated to serve around 250 children a year.”

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That’s now about 200 staff supporting 5,000 children and youth, not only at the Pathways center that’s gone through various expansions during the years – the last around 2011 – but in schools and in local First Nation communities, she said.

A new rehabilitation services program, for instance, was introduced during the pandemic, she said, that saw 20 staff hired to deliver services in all publicly funded schools in Sarnia-Lambton.

Through it all, the Rotary Club that was key in starting Pathways has continued leasing land to Pathways for $1 a year.

Plans are to conduct interviews with Rotarians this year, “some who were in the very first photos when the ground was broken and stood alongside every expansion that happened as Pathways continued to grow,” Morrison said.

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More growth may be needed, she said, as the current 4,000-square-meter (43,000-square-foot) building is “bursting at the seams.

“We have converted as many closet spaces as we can into more treatment areas and been resourceful to figure out best opportunities for staffing arrangements and officers, but we have no more room to adjust inside our center,” she said.

“We’re wondering about our next steps, as well, as needs continue to grow.”

Among the fundraising events planned in 2025 are a new pickleball tournament at Lambton College Jan. 25, a Bench Press Give the Kids a Lift fundraiser at Ironworks March 22, and the return of the Mustang Sally Rally Sept. 13.

That Ford Mustang car rally and cruise hasn’t happened since before COVID-19, she said.

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“We’re bringing that back and excited to do that as one of our fundraisers.”

Fundraising events with Sarnia Street Machines also are planned, she said. June 22 is Cruise in the Park, and Aug. 7 is Hot Nights, Cool Cars.

“This year they’re celebrating their 40th (anniversary), it’s our 50th, and it’s 20 years of working together,” Morrison said.

“We’re really grateful for their support.”

More events are planned and in the works, she said.

“I’m hoping this community hears about Pathways throughout the year as we celebrate the many ways Pathways has made a difference,” she said.

The agency’s 2023-24 budget was about $12 million, all funded from the Ministry of Community and Social Services, County of Lambton, and fees for things like its therapeutic pool, Morrison said.

Fundraising goes to capital costs like toys and equipment for programs, and other capital projects, she said, noting about $690,000 was raised between April 2023 and March 2024.

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