Over 120 people attended the Lansdowne Children’s Centre’s Eras Gala on Saturday, November 16, 2024.
Held in celebration of Lansdowne’s 50th anniversary, the event featured a look back to the organization’s humble beginnings, its growth throughout the years, its current status and what the future holds now that the province announced its commitment in helping to build a new treatment centre earlier this year.
“This year marks our 50th anniversary and tonight, we’re really celebrating all the accomplishments of our kids, the staff and the people that have been committed to running and growing the organization throughout the years and into the future,” said Jennifer White, Executive Director of the Lansdowne Children’s Centre Foundation. “We’re here at the Brantford Golf and Country Club and so what we did is we’ve set up interactive displays, and each room features a couple of decades, so everything from the 1950s right up until today.”
In one room, pictures, videos, and news clippings from 1952 to 1973, showed a glimpse into pre-Lansdowne organizations, like the Brant County Cerebral Palsy Parents’ Council, Association and Centre, and the Rotary Club of Brantford Crippled Children’s Centre at the Brantford General Hospital.
As 1974 marked the official incorporation of the Lansdowne Children’s Centre, the Grand River room featured even more displays dedicated to celebrating the organization’s accomplishments over the last 50 years.
Before settling in for dinner, attendees took the opportunity to mingle in the lobby, browse through the various decades, bid on one of the 30-plus silent auction items, enter for the chance to win one of the many raffle gift cards, or bid on one of the art pieces donated by Lansdowne clients in the recreational therapy program.
As dinner got underway, Laura Maddison, Board Chair for the Lansdowne Foundation, took the opportunity to thank the guests for their contributions, noting that each ticket and auction bid from the evening, were going towards making a difference in the lives of the children and their families who utilize the centre’s resources and services every day.
“Our mission at the Foundation is to enhance and enrich the lives of the children and the families that the centre serves by raising funds and goodwill throughout the community,” said Maddison. “Some of the programs that we raise funds for include Every Kid Counts, care and skills; these programs aim to provide children and youth with special needs, with equal opportunities to participate in recreational programs, as well as enhancing the independent life skills of transitional age children.”
Later, seven members of the Lansdowne Children’s Centre Dance Crew performed a routine to Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” Guests could be seen standing to get a better view, clapping along to the song, and for many, wiping tears from their eyes.
Mike Gatopoulos, the evening’s emcee and a Lansdowne board member, said that the evening was an incredible opportunity to celebrate the centre, the work it has accomplished, and the incredible impact it has made on thousands of children and families in the region.
“There’s so much history in all of these rooms, and to see the humble beginnings that it came from, to where it is now and where we’re going in the future, it’s really incredible to have it all in one space and to be able to celebrate everything that’s happened,” he said. “Lansdowne is such an important part of my journey, my son’s journey and my family’s journey; it’s not something I’m sure I can even put into words and I think it’s that way for the thousands and thousands of families who have come through Lansdowne’s doors for the last 50 years.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
