Trades school donates new roof to Whitmore Park daycare

A non-profit daycare in the Whitmore Park neighbourhood got a free roof Wednesday thanks to the Regina Trades and Skills Centre (RTSC).

The roof on the Whitmore Park Child Care Co-operative’s 37-year-old building was in bad shape when students arrived as part of a program that has seen the trade school donate its services to those in need for the last 12 years.

“There was shingles falling off in storms, they were starting to lift off in many places and I was starting to fear we would be getting leaks. You just never know with our weather,” said Tasha Balkwill, the daycare’s executive director.

The value of the new roof was about $6,000. That’s money the organization now won’t have to pass on to its clients.

“Do we have to increase fees $15 each? Do we start fundraising large amounts that would just go towards the roof? We were really as a board of directors trying to come up with different options of what we could do,” Balkwill said.

“(Daycare’s) already very high-cost for parents.”

Students from the Regina Trades and Skills Centre replaced the roof at the Whitmore Park Child Care Co-operative for free on April 2, 2019. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

The RTSC students also benefit by practising their skills on an actual job site, gaining experience and improving their chances of finding a job.

“In the shop, they learn a mock roof set at four feet up. Here, they’re exposed to the elements,” said Melissa Dobrowolski, operations manager with the RTSC.

“The weather, the challenges that they would not normally face. They have to look at the repairs, maybe do some additional roof vents or whirlybirds. And they’re 10 feet off the ground so it’s a totally different experience for them.”

Next week, the students will be at the home of Terryl Lacoste, a woman who has lived on disability for 14 years and whose house badly needs a new roof.

The RTSC has partnered with Wheatland Roofing for the last four years and its suppliers for the program.