The Falk Fehr Foundation in partnership with the Winkler Community Foundation presented the proceeds from the 2025 Hockey Champions Charity Golf Tournament to three worthy non-profits Friday morning.
Photos by Ashleigh Viveiros/Voice
Chance 2 Grow’s Sara Martens (left) and Central Station’s Anita Wiebe (right) accept $15,000 from Falk Fehr Foundation reps last week
The June fundraiser raised a whopping $60,000, allowing for the donation of $30,000 to Genesis House and $15,000 each to the Central Station Community Centre and Chance 2 Grow.
“It’s tough to pick the charities every year,” reflected the foundation’s Eric Fehr. “We’ve done this for a lot of years now and we’re trying to continue going through the community, make sure everybody gets a chance, but these three really jumped out at us.
“Central Station does a lot of work in the community—it’s not really just one thing, it’s everything,” Fehr said of the community centre, which offers a broad range of programs designed to foster community and provide a helping hand to vulnerable populations.
“Chance 2 Grow is an opportunity for our foundation to support kids having a chance to play sports,” he continued.
Run by the Child and Family Services of Central Manitoba Foundation, Chance 2 Grow pays registration fees and helps with equipment and supplies so kids in need of financial support can take part in sports and recreation programming.
“That’s obviously where we started out, playing sports, and we want to make sure everybody has a chance,” Fehr said of himself and foundation co-founder and fellow former NHL player Justin Falk. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, the ability to play, it’s important. We think it gives you good leadership skills and just helps you prepare for life moving forward.
“And then obviously Genesis House does a lot of work in the community,” he said of the shelter for the victims of domestic violence, which is in the midst of building a 25-unit transitional housing complex for abused women and their children.
“I think it’s probably more of a behind-the-scenes charity,” Fehr observed. “We wanted to raise some awareness to what they’re doing and their transitional home project, where they’re giving [women] a safe space to live.”
These donations are only made possible thanks to the support of all the golfers who come out to take part in the tournament each year—over 160 at this most recent one.
“We continue to push the limits of how many people we can enter in this tournament,” Fehr laughed. “It’s very hard to say no, especially with the excitement around the event, and obviously the goal to raise as much money as we can.
“We’ve had unbelievable support with the golf tournament,” he said. “The fact that they continue to choose our tournament, we feel very blessed.”
Feeling blessed as well were this year’s funding recipients, who send thanks out to both the Falk Fehr Foundation and all the golfers.
“We’re just so grateful for the way that they continue to support the city of Winkler and the organizations that serve the city,” noted Anita Wiebe, executive director of Central Station.
“We’re going to continue to help support the community in any way we can,” she added of what the funds are earmarked for. “We’ve seen a significant rise in the homeless population here in Winkler, and so I’m just trying to figure out how we can best support folks who don’t have the resources that they need.”
“For us, this type of donation on the [transitional housing] project that we’re working on is significant and it shows community support, and that is what other funders are looking for,” noted Ang Braun, executive director of Genesis House.
Sara Martens, community support coordinator for Chance 2 Grow, noted the $15,000 they received will help a lot of kids. Last year the program received 134 applications for every kind of sport and also things like music lessons and art classes. Activities some families could “otherwise not afford to do.
The donation “will be a huge help,” she said. “I’m very, very thankful to Falk Fehr for doing this for us.”
