The Plum Coulee Community Foundation presented several local non-profits with grants and committed additional funds to an ongoing community improvement project last week.
Taylor presents Plum Coulee Fire Department reps Tony Fehr and Riley Fehr with funds to purchase new wildland equipment
Following its annual meeting, the foundation announced the recipients of its 2026 grant cycle, which totals $50,340—up over $9,000 from the year before.
“It’s an increase from last year, a pretty significant number,” noted board chair Levi Taylor. “And we’re proud to support seven different local non-for-profit organizations within the community.”
The Centre on Main received $1,000 towards new tables, a music stand, linens, and a mural; the Plum Coulee Elevator Museum received $1,000 to aid in display upgrades and purchase new signage; the Winkler Family Resource Centre (WFRC) received $2,600 for its early childhood education programming in Plum Coulee; the Plum Coulee Fire Department received $2,815.46 for new wildland equipment; the Winkler and District Imagination Library received $3,000 to support sending out free books to pre-school children; Genesis House received $3,800 towards Clearwater Place, its transitional housing complex under construction in Winkler; and the Plum Coulee Plum Fest received $5,000 help the community celebrate its 125th anniversary Aug. 14-16.
“This contribution helps us continue to bring this festival to our community year after year,” said festival chair Erica Dyck in accepting the funds. “Thank you as well to the amazing volunteers for the time and effort that they put into making this event happen.”
“These funds will help us to continue to bring free books into the homes of Plum Coulee,” noted the Imagination Library’s Dorothy Derksen, sharing that there are 800 kids in the Winkler area currently receiving books in the mail every month. The impact of the program has been profound, helping to foster a love of reading in countless children since the program launched over a decade ago.
Likewise, the programs WFRC run in Plum Coulee each week are reaching numerous families, noted executive director Monica Dueck.
“Funding like this has a direct impact on all the young families in the community and allows us to continue to offer programming throughout the year that they can come, the parents can make connections, the kids can make connections and learn with play.”
The Centre on Main has become a social hub for Plum Coulee, and the funds they received will help ensure it continues to meet the community’s needs, shared Derksen, who also serves on that facility’s board.
“Last year we had 75 rentals, which is why we asked for a grant to replace some tables—they get worn out, setting up and putting them away,” she explained, noting as well that they are in the midst of planning to fill a blank interior wall with a mural depicting various places in the Plum Coulee of yesteryear.
Also speaking on behalf of the elevator museum, Derksen noted they made numerous improvements to the facility last year, and are eager to do more this summer to further cement the heritage museum as a tourism destination. They’ll be hosting an open house the afternoon of June 28 to kick off the season.
When Plum Coulee firefighters headed north to help fight last summer’s wildfires, they very quickly saw the shortfalls of their aging equipment, shared Riley Fehr.
“Those calls made us realize how much our equipment lacks,” he noted. “The wildland equipment that this grant is going towards is going to replace as well as extend our equipment we have into some newer stuff, some nicer stuff that helps us to do the job we do best longer, without tiring as much.”
Accepting the grant on behalf of Genesis House was Sophie Gerbrandt, director of development, who noted they provide their services—including their emergency shelter, 24/7 crisis line, and supportive programming—to women right across southern Manitoba, including Plum Coulee.
“The support from the Plum Coulee Community Foundation means the world. Not just in dollars, but in knowing that we have a community in our area that believes in the work that we are doing and stands with us and with the women and children that we serve.”
The funds will help equip Clearwater Place with a commercial dishwasher. When it opens next year, the 25-unit affordable housing apartment complex will give women attempting to start a new life free from domestic violence a safe space to get back on their feet.
The foundation also committed $30,000 in self-directed granting funds to continue installing solar lights along Plum Coulee’s pathway system (a project they began last summer with funding for the first 10 lights) and to install a series of plaques downtown showcasing some of the historical buildings that once stood in commemoration of the community’s 125th anniversary.
A growing foundation
The foundation’s annual report shows an organization that continues to grow.
Having served the community now for 25 years, the foundation ended 2025 with total fund assets of $952,080. These funds generate interest that allow them to distribute grants each year. Last year those funds generated $112,000 in investment income.
Financially, the foundation finished the year with an operating surplus of $6,600 and a total surplus, once you factor in investment income, of nearly $99,000, to be held by the endowment funds or issued as grants. Factoring in all its assets, the foundation has actually surpassed the $1 million mark.
Looking back at 2025, Taylor noted it was an exciting year for the organization.
“Thanks to generous donations from this community, the foundation at $19,883.66 to the general endowment fund, $7,070 to the administration fund, and $1,294.88 to the heritage fund,” he shared, noting the 2025 grants totaled $41,653 for a variety of community projects.
Thanks to funding the Thomas Sill Foundation gave to community foundation across the province as it closed up shop, “for the last two years, we’ve essentially doubled what we’ve granted out,” Taylor noted. “It’s really exciting.”
Exciting as well is how the community steps up to support the foundation’s work.
“Year after year I am amazed by your generous support of the foundation,” Taylor said to the community at large. “Your support for our semi-annual soup-and-pie events continues to surpass our expectations, and your generosity during the Giving Challenge helps us exceed our goals. Thank you!”
