With two years of the pandemic practically in our rear-view mirrors, the Portage Community Revitalization Corporation saw growth and plenty of activity.

Executive director Victoria Espey says they really pulled through to support our community in several ways.

"One which included being the host of the Urban Indigenous Vaccine Clinic, which is still running to today's date," says Espey. "Just being able to offer that support for our community, an access to vaccines and make a culturally-safe environment for our urban Indigenous people in this community was just a huge honour."

She explains their programs are running quite strongly, including their direct service program.

"Wawokiya continued to support people. Our Reaching Home program continued to support people, and even with the closure of the shelter, the Reaching Home team have put 10 people into permanent housing. So, that's a huge success."

Espey notes their Ask Auntie project started this year and proved to be a wonderful resource for people. She says Robbie Longclaws is well-loved by people with whom she works and has been been a huge asset to their team.

"I couldn't ask for a better team, and they really care about the community. The work that they do makes it evident that they care," continues Espey. "We have 21 employees here at PCRC. Our team again has doubled in size, but it's really been a trend over the last five years -- doubling our programming and doubling our staffing component. So, it's a full house."

She adds they're all set to respond to community needs at any given moment and have some wonderful partnerships with the local business community, the municipal government, and all of Portage's our nonprofit partners.

"We always say we don't do anything alone," says Espey. "We always tag our community partners in on things that we're doing in projects we're taking on, and we couldn't do this work without the support of the community behind us. So, from our heart, we truly mean thank-you and happy holidays to everyone."