Major changes have taken place in Portage la Prairie with United Way. The Central Plains office in Portage will still be in place, but the office in Brandon is expanding its boundaries to cover the area.

Brandon and District CEO Cynamon Mychasiw says her office is thrilled to expand its services and grow capacity in our region.

"We are starting next week with a campaign kickoff on September the 18th where we will be doing a flag-raising with Mayor Sharilyn Knox, and we will have the flag hanging at City Hall for the next week," says Mychasiw. "We'll be doing a proclamation of the United Way Week in Portage next week. We're also doing a meet-and-greet at Canad Inns from 12:00 until 2:00 p.m., so that anyone in the local community who follows United Way or wants some more information, can come and meet some of our Board of Directors and the local staff that we have just recruited in Portage."

She notes these locals will be the faces on the ground in Portage la Prairie and Central Plains. Mychasiw says it's not a take-over of Central Plains but expanding to include the region. 

"We're a larger organization and we are hoping to be able to bring a lot of programs and expand services in the Central Plains region," adds Mychasiw.

She explains the service organizations that have been funded in Portage have their funding secured. Mychasiw says they're honouring the commitments that were made by the United Way of Central Plains. 

"All of the organizations who are receiving funding commitments from them are being paid the same as they would if Central Plains were still there. The most important thing with what we're doing here, and what we've been doing in around rural Manitoba, is raising money locally that stays local. So, money raised in the Central Plains region will stay in the Central Plains region. We are recruiting a group of volunteers from your region that would be able to sit down with us and help us make funding decisions. The allocation decisions will also be made by local individuals from your home community to make sure that dollars are being spent the best that they can be in that community." 

Currently, contact with United Way will be done by reaching their Brandon office, but quite soon, you'll be able to call the office here in Portage to talk to staff.  So, our tagline is, “The United Way in Central Plains”, while United Way of Brandon is doing the administration, the governance, policy, and all of that kind of thing.  We will have two local staff on the ground that will be doing community engagement, campaign, running some programs in there, and they will be a satellite office of our office here." 

"We are keeping the office in Portage. So, what we're saying is the United Way in Central Plains, while United Way another way of Brandon is doing the administration, the governance, policy, and all of that kind of thing, will have two local staff on the ground that will be doing community engagement, campaign running some programs in there, and they will be a satellite office of our office here." 

Mychasiw says they always can use more volunteers, noting they're the lifeblood of all they do.

"We're recruiting year round, really, to help out with events, to help us with some of the programs that we do, as well as funding decisions in the Community," adds Mychasiw.

She outlines the major changes.

"The biggest difference is we are taking over the legal and the financial accountability, and expanding our borders. So, while the faces may be different, the mission and goal is the same."

 

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