The Altona Community Foundation (ACF) was overwhelmed by the support shown during Endow Manitoba’s 24-Hour Giving Challenge Saturday, November 18th.

When all the donations were added, nearly $36,000 was raised for the ACF as a result of the challenge. The money is invested into ACF's Endowment Fund, currently at just over $1.2 million, where it will generate interest and fund community projects.

Over $31,000 was donated locally by community members and area businesses, which is up significantly from last year, where ACF received $18,900 in local donations.

The event took place at the Altona mall, and ACF President Bill Penner said it was a busy day.

"We had pretty good traffic in the morning," said Penner. "Our donation total came up just wonderful, we raised a total of $35,775."

Penner noted this number is up about $12,000 from last year.

"We had a great day, way beyond what we expected, and we're very grateful to our community, personally and business-wise, for the support we received."

The Province of Manitoba and Winnipeg Foundation also participated and matched one dollar for every five dollars donated, to a max contribution of $4,000.

Penner would also like to thank the local business community for their support.

"We had good support from our business community. We had funds donated by Red River Mutual, Golden West Broadcasting, Access Credit Union, Elmer's Manufacturing, and the Municipality of Rhineland, along with Pioneer Meats," said Penner.

The Plum Coulee Community Foundation also had a successful fundraising event, said spokesperson Heather Unger.

"We all got together for soup and pie supper at the Plum Coulee School to make it easy for people to come by and contribute to the 24-Hour Giving Challenge, and we did very well," said Unger.

Unger said $6,240 was raised over the course of the day, which was stretched to $8,736 by the Province of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Foundation.

Also, the Winkler Community Foundation raised $37,326 on Saturday, easily passing their goal of $20,000.