Encompass celebrates 50th anniversary with family festival

Published 8:30 am Thursday, July 14, 2016

Encompass in North Bend is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a free family festival, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 at Centennial Field in Snoqualmie. The birthday bash will include food, bounce houses and live entertainment.

Founded in 1966, Sno-Valley School for Special Needs, Inc., was created by a group of parents to address the need to support special needs children in the Snoqualmie Valley.

In the 1980s the organization renamed itself Children Services of Sno-Valley and operated out of a home near Mount Si High School. The organization offered programs for children with special needs, as well as a preschool for all children. A staff of eight operated out of the garage, while the home served as the preschool.

In the ’90s the group launched a capital campaign to expand. They raised more than $1 million and with the help of Dick and Rosanna Zemp and the Weyerhaeuser Mill of Snoqualmie, Children Services of Sno-Valley moved into its current Early Learning Center on Boalch Avenue in North Bend.

The agency was renamed Encompass in 2005.

Encompass has since opened a second location for its pediatric therapy clinic, serving children and families in the Snoqualmie Valley, Issaquah, Sammamish and Greater Eastside communities.

Programs at Encompass focus on early childhood development and fall into two core areas of education and pediatric therapy. Early learning programs are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and include preschool classes for 3- and 4-year-olds and toddler play groups for children ages 18 to 36 months.

For more information visit www.encompassnw.org.