The Stanley Community Pathway received another financial boost last week with contributions from the Morden Area Foundation and Winkler Community Foundation.
A campaign that pledged to match community donations from the two cities up to $25,000 each resulted in the foundations presenting a combined donation of $50,000 to the project.
Reps from the Winkler Community Foundation and the Morden Area Foundation presented the Stanley pathway project with a combined donation of $50,000 last week, matching funds raised in recent months
“The idea came about that this is a regional effort here with a path between Morden and Winkler, and so we decided to invite the Winkler foundation,” said Morden Area Foundation representative Robert Friesen. “We decided to go ahead and do this project together.”
“It was a challenge [designed] to get the communities on board,” said Myra Peters, executive director of the Winkler Community Foundation. “We’re thrilled to be working together as foundations and supporting a project that connects our communities.
“It is exactly what we are here to do. We’re here to support our community, and we love to work together. Partnerships are huge in what we do, so this was a great fit.”
Reg and Allison Braun of Gallery Wealth Management in Morden were among the many community donors to the matching campaign. They shared that they live right by the start of the Lake Minnewasta trail in Morden.
“We see every day hundreds of people whose quality of life is improved by having a place to go and be outdoors,” Reg Braun said. “So when we saw this pathway being built between Morden and Winkler, we felt that this region, which has been so supportive of our business for almost the last four decades, it was a way for us to give back to the region.”
“I think this project of the trail committee … I see this as a great project that will make safe biking between Morden and Winkler a reality,” said Ken Kroeker, another donor who especially sees the benefit for mental health.
“Mental health is really dependent on physical activity,” he said. “Cycling is one of those areas that fits in well, particularly the Head for the Hills bike event that happens every year with Eden, and this trail kind of builds on that kind of activity, and it’s great to see it happening in the community.”
“We love having an active and connected community in Winkler and try our best to make our community healthy, support its growth and shape its future. We all work in our own ways each day to build a connected community,” said fellow donor Mike Urichuk. “Most of the time, these connections are abstract. Stanley Trail Association, along with the Winkler Community Foundation and Morden Area Foundation, gave us the opportunity to build a physical connection between our cities.
“While this pathway helps our active commuters stay protected from highway traffic while giving families a place to ride, walk and bike, I see it as a path to a more connected Pembina Valley,” he concluded. “We donated because we believed that this project was part of a better tomorrow, and we wanted to part of it.”
Stanley Trail Committee representative James Friesen noted it has been great to see so many people using the pathway already this fall.
“It’s been very gratifying,” he said. “We’ve had this beautiful extended fall, and with the construction on track, dealing with some challenging weather in summer with the rain, to be able to open it, a soft opening, this fall has been really gratifying.
“I’ve had contact from both senior centres, Morden and Winkler, asking about the trail, excited about the idea, asking about rest stops along the way,” Friesen noted. “I saw a mom with a stroller and a couple kids out there, people on bikes.”
He has been very pleased with the financial support that has gotten them very close towards meeting the project’s costs.
“We’re within, I would say, probably a few hundred thousand to close the gap on about a $4.2 million project,” Friesen said. “It’s been incredible at every level.
“About $3.2 million of it was acquired through grants and other funding … and the rest now is coming from the community to close the gap, so businesses, individuals, families and the foundation matching any community donation coming in. It’s been energizing.”
