One of the things that stands out about living and working in southeast Manitoba is how willing our community is to show up for one another. At Agape House, we see this generosity throughout the year. From individual donations to community fundraisers and business partnerships, the support we receive plays an important role in helping us provide services to individuals and families experiencing gender-based violence. As a non-profit organization, we rely on the generosity of our community to help sustain our work. Financial donations, household items, gift cards, and other contributions help us respond to the needs of the people accessing our services. Every contribution, regardless of its size, helps us continue providing support to survivors as they work toward safety, stability, and independence.

Over the years, our community has supported Agape House through events such as our annual Purple Gala, community barbecues, walks, and awareness campaigns. These events bring people together around an important cause, helping raise funds while creating opportunities to talk about family violence and the resources available to those experiencing it. More recently, we have also seen an increase in third-party fundraisers, with local businesses choosing to support Agape House through events and initiatives of their own. Whether a business organizes a special promotion, dedicates proceeds from an event to our organization, or invites its customers to contribute, these efforts demonstrate a meaningful commitment to supporting survivors in our community. There is something particularly encouraging about seeing businesses take the initiative to organize their own fundraisers. It allows them to engage their employees and customers in a cause they care about, while helping extend awareness beyond the audiences we might otherwise reach. It also shows that supporting survivors does not have to look the same for everyone. Each business can find a way to contribute that reflects its own capacity, interests, and community connections. These partnerships are about more than the funds raised. They help bring conversations about gender-based violence into everyday spaces and remind people that supporting survivors is a shared community responsibility.

When a local business chooses to support Agape House, it helps send the message that family violence matters and that survivors deserve access to support without judgment. Of course, financial contributions are only one way to take a stand. Donations of needed items, volunteering, sharing information about our services, attending awareness events, and challenging victim-blaming attitudes are all meaningful ways to contribute. Businesses and community organizations can also help by sharing information about Agape House and ensuring that people know where to turn when they need support. As we continue our work throughout southeast Manitoba, we are reminded that we cannot do it alone. The generosity of our community helps make our work possible, and the growing involvement of local businesses creates new opportunities to reach people and build awareness. To everyone who has donated, organized a fundraiser, sponsored an event, volunteered, or shared our message, thank you. Your support makes a difference, and we are grateful to be part of a community that continues to show up for survivors. If you or your business is interested in supporting Agape House through a donation, partnership, or third-party fundraiser, we would love to hear from you. To learn more about our services or discuss ways to get involved, contact outreach@agapehouse.ca. If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, support is available by calling 204-346-0028 or texting 204-800-7799.

Lisa Fast is an outreach coordinator.

The Hanover School Division board of trustees has made the news lately - for all the wrong reasons.

The Globe and Mail wrote a story about the board’s going rogue in the spring by passing a motion, “…that would ignore provincial and federal mature minor regulations and prevent students from getting counselling and medical services, including contraceptive prescriptions, without their parents’ knowledge.” Manitoba Education Minister Tracy Schmidt quickly condemned the board and forced it to repeal it. She also added, “Your presumed knowledge of your legal and constitutional responsibilities would lead a reasonable observer to conclude you passed this motion at best for public attention and at worst to pick a fight.”

More recently, Winnipeg Free Press’ Dan Lett wrote a column specifically about trustee Shayne Barkman.

Lett wrote. “There’s no doubt Barkman, if he had the courage to explain himself, would deny that he hates anyone. But if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, reposts offensive messages from other socially conservative ducks and attends duck-organized anti-LGBTTQ+ rallies, then it’s a pretty hateful duck.”

Sports broadcaster Braiden Bell found his dream job when the Portland Trail Blazers hired him as their play-by-play announcer. Later that same day, Bell had that dream job taken away from him.

That’s because a reporter for KGW in Portland, Oregon went digging through Bell’s old tweets and found several from 2012 and 2013 that were quite offensive. Specifically, Bell made a racist post about Asian people and wrote several posts that were quite misogynistic. Shortly after the reporter contacted the Trail Blazers for comment, the team announced that because they had zero tolerance for racism or sexism, Bell’s contract was being terminated immediately.

At first glance, it sounds like Bell was simply being held accountable for unacceptable comments. However, there’s an important caveat—Bell was only 15 years old at the time. Apparently, the reporter thought that it was just fine to go after Bell, who is currently a 29-year-old professional, for things he wrote when he was a teenager.

Think back to when you were a teenager. Chances are that you said or wrote things that you would find quite embarrassing today. And yet, some reporters apparently think that anything you said or did in your teenage years is fair game if it helps you get a juicy story.

The Government of Manitoba has formalized a five-year strategic framework to strengthen agricultural and agri-food innovation with Europe.

The framework is between Manitoba Agriculture and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food, Europe’s largest food innovation community with more than 200 partners dedicated to accelerating innovation and business creation in the food sector.

EIT Food uses the Horizon Europe funding program, with a $151.9-billion budget for 2021 to 2027, to enable and advance innovation and entrepreneurship across the food value chain in Europe and internationally.

The agreement brings together EIT Food’s European agri-food innovation sector and international network with Manitoba’s strengths in agri-food production, value-added processing, applied research, and industry-academia partnerships.

“Christian faith, which is at its heart about self-giving - God’s self-giving and human self-giving - and not about self-imposing.” -Philip Yancey.

As our communities prepare for their municipal elections on Oct. 28 this is a good time to do a series on faith and politics. Last week we looked at how God called Joseph, Esther and Daniel to prominent positions of influence for the sake of serving people in need and to deal with corruption. We also looked at Micah 6:8 and were reminded that a politician of faith should first desire to love justice and seek mercy (kindness) for all and walk humbly with God.

Can one still serve God while exercising political power? After all, Jesus said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” (Mark 10:43). In modern politics we still use the term of ‘serving in office’. It seems that servant mentality is key. Jesus is not saying we should belittle ourselves and not desire great things, it’s just that we should start with the right heart that desires great things for all. It is easy for politicians to fall into the trap of doing only what makes them look good and helps their own reputation and polling.

However, for the Christian, political leadership is not primarily an opportunity to gain power. It is an opportunity to steward power in service to God and neighbour. Religious leaders once asked Jesus a politically explosive question about paying taxes to Caesar. His response is remarkable: “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Jesus recognizes a legitimate sphere for civil government, but he also establishes something much larger. Caesar has a claim. God has a bigger claim. The coin bears Caesar’s image, but the human being bears God’s image.