INNISFAIL – The town’s millennium baby has come of age.
Ryan Groves was the first baby born in the year 2000 at Innisfail Health Centre. He came into the world a little bit earlier than expected, said father Bill Groves, arriving Jan. 7.
At the time, the Innisfail Kinettes had been welcoming the New Year’s baby each year with donations of baby gear collected from around town. But for the first baby born in the 21st century, they planned something else.
"We just wanted to do something different for the millennium,” said Kinettes member Darlene Thompson. The group collected donations to put towards a scholarship for the millennium New Year’s baby, and Ryan was the lucky recipient.
The family had no idea they were about to have Innisfail’s New Year’s baby, finding out afterwards about the Kinettes’ New Year’s baby program.
"It was a nice surprise,” said Bill.
With the arrival of his 18th birthday, Ryan was presented with the cheque promised by the Kinettes all those years ago. The Kinettes had collected $1,650 for the program, which, after nearly two decades of interest, added up to $2,960 to put towards Ryan’s future education.
"It was a really nice thing to do for that family, and I’m really glad we got to do it,” Thompson said.
The Groveses were grateful for the scholarship offer. Bill said they already had everything they needed in terms of baby gear.
"Ryan was kid number 4 for us,” he said.
While the family lives in the Caroline area, Bill and his wife Tammy grew up in Bowden and Innisfail respectively. All their services, like dentists and doctors, were based in Innisfail.
"All of our children were born in Innisfail,” Bill said.
Ryan said in an interview conducted by text message that he probably plans on doing a trade like carpentry after he finishes high school in Rocky Mountain House in a few weeks.
"He works well with his hands,” said Bill of his son.
While the Groveses and many other families over the years benefited from the Kinettes’ New Year’s baby program, the program is no more. That’s because the Innisfail Health Centre stopped delivering babies.
According to Alberta Health Services, the health centre stopped offering obstetrics services about nine years ago.
Still, club member Thompson remembers the program fondly.
"We had a lot of fun doing it, meeting the baby and so on,” Thompson said.
Bill Groves, father
"Ryan was kid number 4 for us."
