2015-16 was a great year for the Child and Family Services of Central Manitoba Foundation.

Their AGM was held last night in Portage la Prairie, and Foundation Administrator Nancy Funk outlines some of the details from the past year.

"We had a great year! Usage of our programs was up, I think we supported 7 extra kids from the year before. However, the numbers -- the dollar figure -- was down a little bit, but that can be contributed to what the programs were that were being utilized. We had great support from our community, from corporate sponsors to individuals, they see the importance of these programs and that's important to us."

She says they're still in search of some help all over the region.

"We cover the Central Region, which is basically to the American border, and as far north as Alonsa. So we put out an add, sort of a call for volunteers to join our board. I believe there are 3 new board members, maybe 4. They'll be joining the board, and we still have room for people from the southern part of our region to join. If someone's interested they can certainly go to our website and make contact there."

Funk with the Plant Sale Ladies

Funk says they had a presentation for some special volunteers last night.

"We call them our Plant Sale Ladies. They're a group of 6 ladies (Jody Fletcher, Liz Sherritt, Kora McCartney, Cindy Clarkson, Val Sissons, and Pat Wall) that have been on board since the beginning of our plant sale for the Chance 2 Grow Program. They have pounded the pavement for us and have sold petunias for us since the inception of that fundraiser, and so they're a vital part of our programming. Without them and their contribution to the Chance 2 Grow program makes it possible to provide the funding for other programs."

She adds a big thanks is owed to the people at Vanstone Nurseries, who've been huge supporters of the Chance 2 Grow Program.