This has been a year of growth, change, and new challenges, but it has also been a year where we were able to come together in person and create meaningful social connections again. Over the past year, the world opened up more and has started to adapt to COVID-19 as part of our everyday. Our employees, clients and community have been extremely flexible and supportive of the changes and growth throughout the year.

One of the significant changes that we faced this year was the continued transition of the Ontario Autism Program (OAP). Our legacy intensive program concluded on March 31, 2023, after running at Lake Ridge from January 2005 to March 2023. While we are sad to see the program end, we are grateful for all the client and family connections and successes that we were able to achieve. I want to express my appreciation to our employees who have been a part of the service and those who have been so dedicated over the past few years during the transition. Your efforts have impacted many lives, and we are grateful for the incredible service offered.

Despite the challenges we faced, we achieved many successes this year. We expanded our fee-based programs and services to meet the changing needs of our clients and community, and we continued to deliver high-quality services and support. We have strengthened our partnerships with other organizations, and we have continued to advocate for the needs of our clients and community. In the OAP, we were able to grow and expand our partnership with the Urgent Response program and the Entry to School program. We saw much growth and impact for clients, caregivers and the community with our services.

Thank you to our Board of Directors, employees, clients and community partners for contributing to the development of our Strategic Plan. The strategic plan was finalized in the spring of 2022, and implementation has started. A task force of employees and the Board of Directors assisted with redefining our mission, vision and values. We also continued to grow and develop our services and developed a new agency structure to create improved oversight and efficiencies.

As we look ahead, I am confident we will continue to grow and thrive as an organization. We have an incredible employee team, a strong Board of Directors, and a supportive community, and I am excited to see what we can achieve together.

Once again, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to our success over the past year. Your support, dedication, and hard work are deeply appreciated, and I am honoured to work alongside each and every one of you.