Organizers of The Community Exchange (TCE), Altona's newest resource hub launched in September 2022, are expressing their gratitude for the community's strong support, whether in the form of donations, volunteerism or encouragement. 

Board chair Cal Funk says some of their original programs are growing and new ones have sprouted.

"There's a grandma’s group that meets here regularly on a weekly basis. I think it's now called Grandmas and Beyond. I think that means it's not just women who can attend this, it can be men as well. It's multiracial and it's just people coming together and sharing stories with each other. Stories .... we have one of our board members who volunteered to be part of coordinating a way of gathering stories from the community of Altona. They've partnered with a newcomer to Altona. That person came from a media background. They're working together, and now they're starting to interview people in our community and hear the stories of Altona."

This past summer saw the non-profit hire two staff people: Kayla Giesbrecht is the agency's new administrator; Diana Wiebe has been tasked with developing a "Community Connector" program.

One of the main priorities in 2024 is to hire an executive director to sustain the centre's growth.

"We've had a number of applications, and now we have some interviews that are going on," said Funk. "We hope to hire an executive director for some time in the New Year. We need more devoted resources, people with time and energy to devote to building relationships, building programming, building donor support and that kind of stuff. A big part of that is, as we work with our partners in the community, we just see so many needs that are there." 

One of those needs is for transportation within the community. 

"So many people don't have a vehicle to get around in. They need to get to a doctor's appointment, or they would like to get a ride to the community meal, or they'd like to come here for a drop in, but have no way of getting here. We've had a mild winter so far, but when it's minus 30C, you know it's pretty tough to get out."

During its initial year of operation, TCE has seen an increasing number of people walk through its doors from various backgrounds. 

Funk credits their community partners for making it a rewarding year, but points out there's more work to be done.

"We have what we call our Cafe 116 model, that includes everything going on in our kitchen. We would like to expand that program in a way where we can start offering hot lunches on a more regular basis. We've done it randomly, but we want to be more intentional about that, both from a food security standpoint, but also learning from each other, right? Bringing people together and expanding our food rescue program. We would like to be able to access more food because there's more need."

Having made recent connections to distribute food in Rosenfeld and Gretna, Funk says they hope to work with a growing number of agencies to accomplish more than the centre could do on its own.

In a letter to supporters, Funk outlines how, going forward, additional funding and volunteers will be needed to realize several goals, including:
- expansion of the Community Meal to twice a month
- addition of lunches and possibly a weekly dinner option at Cafe 116
- expansion of the Food Rescue initiative

The Community Exchange can be reached by calling 204-216-1577 or by email to info@tcealtona.ca. 

A listing of upcoming events can be found online here. 


~With files from Candace Derksen~

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