The 12,000-square-foot Sooke Child, Youth and Family Centre is a one-stop location for children and youth service agencies in the community of Sooke. Eight agencies reside in the $2.5 million dollar Centre built by the Queen Alexandra Foundation, sharing a receptionist and numerous common areas. The Queen Alexandra Foundation used some of its endowment and fundraised for the $2.5 million cost of constructing and furnishing the centre. The building has a daycare and a preschool, family counseling centres, a community kitchen and clothing loan service.

Above:  The Sooke Child, Youth and Family Centre

These agencies provide services from the Sooke Centre:

• Edward Milne Community School Society
• Ministry of Children and Family Development
• Pacific Centre Family Services Association
• Sooke Co-operative Preschool
• Sooke Family Resource Society
• Sooke Options for Community Living
• Sooke Women's Transition House
• Vancouver Island Health Authority

These agencies make up the Sooke CASA (Co-operative Association of Service Agencies), which leases the building from the Queen Alexandra Foundation for $1 a year and is responsible for all operating costs associated with agencies. Money that the non-profit agencies spent on rent can now be redirected back into their programs.

"Our staff have formed close working relationships with the other agencies in the building, and everyone has a much better understanding of what each agency does which in turn helps us all to provide better service to the community."  ~ Susan Wright, Sooke Transition House Society (resident agency at the Sooke Centre).

Volunteers from Sooke, many from the agencies themselves, have poured countless hours and energy into this Centre. They have created not only an incredibly child friendly space but also one that reflects the community of Sooke with motifs and materials taken from the natural and marine environment. Posts from the Douglas Fir logged on the site hold up the entranceway, rocks excavated for the foundations are moored in the red floor, and leaf and fern patterns adorn the walkways. The building cannot be adequately described but needs to be viewed for the full effect!

The Sooke Child, Youth and Family Centre is located at 2145 Townsend Road South.  To contact the main receptionist at the Centre, call 250-642-6364.