Thursday afternoon the remaining donations from the 2018 Viterra Championship were awarded to a number of community initiatives.

The Winkler Community Foundation was the recipient of $10,000. Executive Director, Myra Peters, says the WCF is excited to grow their community fund so they can further impact the community.

The Winkler Curling Club received $75,000 which will be going into their general funds.

Ernie Gonda is the President of the Winkler Curling Club and has been a curler for many years. He says, "we have some equipment here that is reaching close to the end of its life. Our cooling plant is getting old, its been repaired numerous times."

Gonda adds that new equipment will allow them to have a "Class A facility here that is offering good rocks, good ice, and consistency." He also says the Club is looking at expanding the building where spectators can watch on the second, and ground level.

Gonda was also joined by Charles Dyck, the Club Treasurer. He has been with the Club for a number of years, and work behind the scenes as a jack-of-all-trades while also preparing the ice for curling season.

Mike Chute is the Executive Director for the Buhler Active Living Centre, and says the Centre's residents and curling fans will be receiving new equipment for recreation activities with the $500 donation they received.

The Winkler Senior Centre's Director, Nettie Dyck says their cheque of $800 will help with the installation of a new stove as they work at taking over the Meals-on-Wheels program through their kitchen. "We actually started October first with Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but with this stove we're hoping that eventually could be a five day project," says Dyck.

Louis Tanguay is one of the Viterra organizers, and says $95,000 was donated in total through the Championship. $1,000 worth was donated to the Winkler Junior Curling Club in the form of iPads and printers, which were originally purchased to help keep score at the event.

"We were shooting for $101,000 . . . attendance wasn't as strong as what it was at the Scotties. We were expecting it to be stronger than it was," which Tanguay says was probably due to the cold weather.

The final $500 was donated to Friends of Riding Mountain National Park, a group that promotes the National Park. "They were supported by Gary and Tammy Berg, and Gary and Tammy have a cabin up there . . . We thought it was fitting that because they weren't here in 2018 to help us, but they're still fresh in our minds, that we make a small contribution on their behalf to the organization," adds Tanguay.