The mayor of Portage la Prairie signed a proclamation today to help the Multiple Sclerosis Society's fundraising efforts.

"I'm very pleased to sign the proclamation and declare May as MS Awareness Month," says Irvine Ferris, mayor of Portage la Prairie. "Our community, Portage an area, has one of the highest MS rates in the country. All of us have friends or family that have been affected by this disease. The MS Society receives no government funding."

He adds funding can therefore only come from fundraising efforts. Ferris says there's been significant and hopeful progress made in research for the disease, and awareness month helps raise the Society's profile in the area to enable them to do their extremely important fundraising.