The Mount Pleasant Family Centre

Thank you for being here! My name is Magali. I’m an architect and a mum of two young kids. We have been regulars at the family centre for the past 5 years, since our oldest was only a few weeks old.

As anyone familiar with the Family Centre will tell you, it is a rare gem in our city. Started in 1976 by a knitting group on Main Street who saw the need for a place for young children and families in the neighbourhood, the Family Centre has been providing support for families, parents, children and babies for the past 49 years. Many of the women who run the place have been there for over three decades. They have been aunties and grandmothers to thousands of children, and they have supported countless families. They have built the “village" required to raise resilient children in our city. I cannot begin to describe how profound their impact has been.

From the outside, it’s a little blue field house adjacent the community garden in Robson Park. Inside, it’s a miracle: a carefully tended playroom full of toys, books and art, drop in programs, songs, baby groups, a space downstairs to run informal parenting classes, hand me downs, a resource library, a place to catch one’s breath with a cup of hot tea and staff who understand children and welcome you like family.

I have personally received so much care, kindness, education and joy from being part of this community, and I know that our family is only one of hundreds who have profoundly benefited from this exceptional place.

Recently, the MPFCS has lost part of their core funding because other important issues like housing and climate are pulling focus and shifting resource allocation. For this reason, we are raising funds to ensure this place stays open at full capacity for the rest of 2025 and well into the future. With your help, we can make sure they receive a small reflection of the support they have offered so many for decades. Families and children need them now more than ever.

Together, we need to raise $100k by April 1st of this year to bridge this funding gap. This money will preserve the current staff and program schedule until new funding can be secured for 2026.

Your generous contributions will benefit children and families now, as well as ensure that the Centre is there for those who need it in the future. Thank you so much for investing in this place. You are directly investing in our community, our children and in our collective resilience.

Please donate and then share this Go Fund Me page far and wide! Everything counts. Together, we can do this!

Tax receipts are available. Please contact me to request one.

All our gratitude,

Magali on behalf of the families and friends of MPFCS.

https://www.mpfamilycentre.ca/