Six-year-old Maddox is a regular at Autism Okanagan’s Lego club.
“He’s been here since he was four and he’s been to every session,” said Maddox’s mom, Victoria Bijak.
But the Kelowna boy is building a lot more than just Lego structures — he’s building friendships and confidence, as well.
“He has a place that he can be accepted and we know that he’s safe and that he’s understood,” Bijak said.
However, putting on vital programs for children on the spectrum and for their families isn’t always easy as the organization has to find suitable spaces, which is costly and restrictive.
“We borrow space. We’re compartmentalizing the city,” said Tammy Gilmour, president of Autism Okanagan. “We spend a little bit here, a little bit there. Many places are unaffordable to us.”
But that will soon change after the charity received a major gift, a 2,200-square-foot home near the city’s downtown.
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“It’s incredible…nothing like this has ever happened,” Gilmour told Global News. “We’re going to double, maybe even triple our impact.”
For the first time since its inception in 2013, Autism Okanagan will have a permanent home.
“We’ve never had a place to land,” Gilmour said. “We’re going to call this ‘the home for belonging’.
The home will allow the organization to expand existing services and add new ones to help support some 300 families every year amid the growing need.
“Many of the things we offer are waitlisted and so we’ve had to say no to some families,” Gilmour said. “That’s very difficult.”
The home was purchased and gifted by a local philanthropic family with some personal connections to autism.
“Autism is very important to the Hall Family Foundation because autism and neuro-spiciness runs in our family, ” said Raegan Hall.
“We really wanted to explore areas where we could help youth get active and get out and into the community and have no barriers.”
The organization hopes to operate out of the home in early 2026 after a few renovations to make it more suitable to run its services.
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