Faison Center celebrates new early education center
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Two students from Faison Center's early education program helped Brian McCann, Faison's president and CEO, with a ribbon-cutting April 23 (pictured) to "officially" mark the opening of Markel Hall.
Completed and opened in May 2020, the building houses the early education center and has been in use almost two years, but the ribbon-cutting ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic. The belated ceremony served as a kick-off to the Action for Autism Gala, which was held in the nearby community center.
The addition of the early education center has enabled Faison to expand its partnership with Westhampton Day School, which provides children with autism the opportunity to be part of a traditional classroom setting.
At the ceremony, McCann read a letter from the grandfather of a child in the program, expressing his delight that the student was now ready to be with her peers at Westhampton Day School without the presence of Faison staff.
"This is amazing to us," wrote the grandfather, "because not too long ago we wondered if she would ever walk, ever talk, ever be potty-trained and on and on."
(View photos from the beam-raising ceremony for Markel Hall in October 2019 at henricocitizen.com/articles/faison-center-tops-off-early-education-center/.)
