Non-profits gather to share challenges, successes at chamber luncheon

Twenty-eight non-profits from the Southeast gathered in Steinbach last Thursday where they shared some of the challenges they face and some of their successes.

The lunchtime event was put together by the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce at the request of the non-profit community. There are about 60 to 70 non-profit members in the chamber and 45 people came to the luncheon.

“The non-profit community doesn’t all experience the same challenges. There’s a variety of different challenges, because we’re all looking to address different needs. There are similar basic needs across the board, but we’re all approaching it from a different angle…So, the needs are changing. We’re learning how to pivot.

“We’re looking for opportunities to be smart and do the best with the resources that we have and the people that we have,” said chamber executive director Tessa Masi, who has 19 years of non-profit experience.

Forecasted rain bumps Car Show on the Ridge to Sunday

The Car Show on the Ridge in Woodridge will take place Sunday on the scheduled rain date, due to incoming inclement weather.

When an event comes together that promotes community pride, shares passions among enthusiasts, and benefits the community financially, it is truly a “win-win” situation.

According to organizers of the annual Car Show on the Ridge in Woodridge, that’s exactly what they feel as they are planning their fifth annual event.

This year’s Car Show on the Ridge takes place May 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Woodridge Community Centre and M.A. Querel Community Park.

Gunderson’s walk off keeps Charlotte’s NCAA baseball season alive

Cody Gunderson’s NCAA career isn’t over just yet.

The Charlotte 49ers senior from St Malo extended his career with a two-run walk-off single in Charlotte’s final game of the season, powering his team to a 8-7 win over Mephis to clinch a spot at the American Conference Championships.

The win put the Niners in a tie for sixth place in the conference standings, bouncing back to make the tournament after a rough start to conference play. Head coach Robert Woodard said he had an unusual talk with his team after a 1-2 series against Florida Atlantic with just 12 games left in their season.

“I usually don’t go to standings or landscape and what it takes because I try to stay centered on our team and getting better and being the first version of ourselves – but with this group of guys and all the seniors, they deserved to know what it was going to take to accomplish this,” Woodard said on the Niners website.

Ambiguous divisional email raises concerns of student safety at Niverville school

An ambiguous email from the Hanover School Division to parents of Niverville Elementary School students was sent last week addressing an incident regarding student safety at the school. But instead of explaining what had happened, the email created confusion and worry leading parents to look for answers on social media.

In the email to parents last Friday, the division stated it was addressing concerns circulating around the school community of “a recent student safety concern” at the school.

The email went on to inform parents that the division was taking the situation seriously and that, “out of an abundance of caution, we have added extra supports and precautions in the building.” Further, the division is aware that situations like this can “create worry for students, staff, and families.”

Ironically, while the email tried to address rumours and alleviate concerns, it only exacerbated them by its ambiguity in not explaining what happened to prompt the security measures.

COLUMN: The Carillon Flashback August 27, 1986 – Twin River Farm offers bed, breakfast

by WES KEATING

Although it is a distance from the city, the setting is definitely right, and ever since Colleen and Claude Lord opened their La Broquerie area turn-of-the-century farmstead as a bed and breakfast, families have been visiting their place at a steady rate.

The farm buildings are situated in a heavily treed area, well back from the road. Near the barn, several horses graze contentedly in a small meadow and just behind a fenced-in corral on the other side, the Seine River makes a gentle curve.

The farm offers a tranquil place for a family to spend time – to unwind and relax – and enjoy a full-course country breakfast in the pleasant dining room. Although the program is advertised as “bed and breakfast”, visitors may stay as long as they choose, eating all meals at the farm if arrangements are made.

City looks to strengthen sump pit and sump pump bylaw

Steinbach city council will consider first reading of a revised sump pit and sump pump bylaw at an upcoming meeting.

Administration was directed to bring a new draft of the bylaw forward at the next regular meeting, following a sneak peek at the city’s strategic priorities committee meeting on Tuesday.

The revised bylaw includes more explicit rules on how sump pumps and pits must be installed, and how sump and rainwater can be disposed of.

It also includes a schedule of fines for offenders, though city staff said they would do as much as they could to resolve situations before using that tool.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Pasteurized milk delivered daily

SEPTEMBER 5, 1952—Every morning, without the benefit of franchise or bylaw, Steinbach Creamery delivers 700 to 800 quarts of fresh milk to Steinbach’s 2,100 citizens. The milk is pasteurized, some is homogenized, and tests from 3.5 to 4.6 percent butterfat. It is produced on 11 of the districts leading dairy farms, all of which are inspected periodically by the Red River Health Unit sanitation inspector.

A dozen years earlier, the town cowherd would take the cows down Main Street, blowing his bugle for all to hear, announcing it was seven o’clock and time to bring the cows to be taken to the community pasture. Practically everyone had their own cow.

But even before the cowherd hung up his horn, and before the common pasture was made into a farm, commercial enterprise was at work.

A.A. Regehr made a sharp bid to take over the milk business, erecting the present Steinbach Creamery building. A 180-foot well was drilled to supply running water to cool the milk and provide water to wash bottles and milk cans. Equipment included bottle washers, cooling vats, and sterilizers. It was quite an ambitious undertaking under the circumstances, and during the first year, deliveries were only 200 quarts per day.

RM of Piney looking for community feedback with housing survey

The RM of Piney is looking for residents to participate in a regional survey regarding housing in the municipality.

“The RM of Piney does a housing survey every few years, (it) wants to keep sort of a pulse on what demand is looking like, where the gaps are, (and) what people are looking for in the future,” said Monique Chenier, economic development and tourism manager for Sunrise Corner for the RMs of Piney and Stuartburn. Chenier is helping to facilitate the survey.

The survey will ask 19 questions looking at demographics, what people’s current living situations are, the types of housing residents are looking for (seniors, multi-family rentals, single-family homes), and other housing related questions.

Chenier said the majority of housing in Piney is single-family owned homes with a “handful” of rentals mostly as duplexes.

Mennonite Heritage Village hosts Manitoba Day celebration

Spectators braved a cold wind to listen to former Olympian Michelle Sawatzky-Koop sing the Manitoba Song as the provincial flag was raised at the Mennonite Heritage Village on May 9, part of the museum’s Manitoba Day celebration.

Close to 600 visitors attended the event that saw heritage demonstrations, free Manitoba Day cake and welcoming speeches in what is the museum’s first event of the season.

Manitoba Day is officially on May 12, but a weekend celebration was planned to honour the 156 years Manitoba has been a province to allow more of the public to attend.

MHV executive director Robert Goertzen shared the importance of the day, which recognizes the moment the Manitoba Act received Royal Assent in 1870, making Manitoba the fifth province in Canada.

Donated painting honours Filipino artist

A painting created by an artist who once called Steinbach home was donated to the Mennonite Heritage Village.

In a ceremony coinciding with Manitoba Day, senior curator Garth Doerksen accepted the art piece from donors Gerry and Shirley Klassen. The painting, a winter scene of a windmill, was created by Juan Vicente Costales Artates, known in the Steinbach area as Vic Artates. Doerksen described him as a pioneer of sorts, as he was the first person born in the Philippines to call Steinbach home. He and his wife moved to Steinbach in 1967 where he became a lab technician at the Bethesda Hospital. He later moved into other work such as real estate and relocated to B.C. Artates, born in 1941, still lives in the Philippines.