Buying a tree from the First Annual Family Place Festival of Trees will help teach special needs children the life skills they need as part of the Mini-Go School program.

The festival, which starts today, will hopefully raise enough funds to keep the Family Place's Mini-Go School running, said Linda Rudachyk, the event' s co-ordinator.

The Mini-Go School, which began on Sept. 18, is a preschool program for two to four year old children, Rudachyk said. The children suffer from a range of disabilities: autism, cerebral palsy, or fetal alcohol syndrome.

Unfortunately, Rudachyk said, these children miss out on basic life skills normally learned in early childhood, such as basic hygiene and table manners, because the social and physical factors facing these children prevent them attending normal preschool or even interacting as normal children.

"The kids suffer," she said. "They started at a disadvantage."

The Family Place began the program because they identified "a gap in the services" available to these children, she said. Although they put forward several proposals to the government for funding, they were turned down because Weyburn did not fit several social and economic criteria for communities programs of this type.

Therefore, Rudachyk said, the program is largely funded by community donations, such as a $10,000 donation made by the Young Fellows Club this week.

But more money is always required, forcing the organization to be creative about fund-raising. The Festival of Trees, she said, fitted that criteria.

About 16 children participate in the Mini-Go school, but the Family Place received 36 referrals when they began the program, and were forced to limit the number of children attending.

The program is slated to run until June, 2001, and may run on an annual basis. This is highly likely, said Rudachyk, as the program has seen considerable success.

"It has taken off already. We have seen incredible, incredible things with the children."

The Festival of Trees runs until Nov. 29, with the specially decorated trees on display at the Wealth Management Centre of the Weyburn Credit Union from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Special viewings will be held in the evenings of Nov. 23-24, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 25.

The festival ends with a special reception to be held at the Weyburn Credit Union on Nov. 29 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., when the trees will be auctioned off.