Grand Opening of New Imua Family Services Location

 By Maui Now Staff

The public is invited to the Grand Opening Celebration of Imua Family Services’ Center for Childhood Development on Friday, April 17, 2015, at 10:30 a.m. at 161 South Wakea Ave. in Kahului (next to the Easter Seals Maui campus).

At the blessing, IFS Executive Director Dean Wong will announce a new chapter in future development as the the nonprofit expands its services to include Molokaʻi, making Imua Family Services a county-wide organization for the first time in its 68-year history.

“We have been providing services on Maui and Lānaʻi for many years and have always wished to include services on Molokaʻi,” said Wong. “However, we were very cognizant of not trying to force our way in. We were blessed this past year to receive a very specific invitation from the island community, and we are humbled and honored to accept and embrace the Molokaʻi community.”

Since 1947, the nonprofit Imua Family Services has provided services to Maui’s keiki with special needs, concerns and developmental delays. IFS provides comprehensive therapeutic services to children and their families with the resources they need so they can reach their full potential in life.

In 2012, Wong announced a partnership with Easter Seals Hawaiʻi and embarked on its first capital campaign to renovate the old Maui Land & Pine office building on Wakea Avenue.

In 2014, Wong announced the completion of the $1.9 million capital campaign and the commencement of building.

This year, on Friday, April 3, 2015, Wong will take the stage at Fantasia Ball, Imua’s 68th Anniversary Gala Fundraiser–the very same stage where he initially announced the project– and announce the completion of Imua Family Services’ Center for Childhood Development.

With 10,500 square feet, the center will introduce the community to IMS’ newest program: Imua Family Services Inclusion Preschool. This one-of-a-kind preschool will be the first private inclusion preschool in the state.

“The right place can give an organization a new sense of identity, a new sense of ambition,” said Wong. “In the past, we performed our services from an office space, and though it wasn’t an ideal space for what we had grown into, we made it work for us. With the future in mind, we worked to build a space that not only had the room to house our staff, but included spaces that were specific to our work with children.”

Grand opening attendees are asked to park in the Queen Kaʻahumanu Shopping Center parking lot near the three-story parking structure by the Oneheʻe entrance (opposite side of the structure from the bus terminal).

To learn more about Imua Family Services, go online or call (808) 244-7467.