The Portage Plains United Way's giving back to community organizations, beyond their member agencies. Executive Director Mandy Dubois recently presented funds to two organizations. The first was a $2,000 cheque for Youth For Christ, in order to allow the group to purchase skateboards and helmets to go along with their new portable skate park. The second allocation was $250 for the Portage Pride March, which took place last weekend. Any leftover from the Pride parade is going to Portage Collegiate's Queer-Straight Alliance.  Executive Director Mandy Dubois notes these donations wouldn't have been possible without the community's great support for their campaign last year.

"We were able to hold back about $10,000 from the campaign to give to other programs, initiatives, or events in the community. It's always great to support our member agencies, but there's always things going on in our community we'd like to support as well, that maybe don't fall under the requirements of being a member agency."

During the 2015 campaign period the local United Way office managed to exceed their goal of $247,000, something Dubois says really shows the community's support. She says it's great to give back to the community beyond the member agencies, noting it's always a tough decision for the board to decide where they community response grants should go.

"It's the best part of my job, giving out money instead of asking for it. It's fantastic. We get a lot of applications and our board meets to discuss them thoroughly. We just want to make sure the money we're spending with the community response grants goes to helping the most people in our community, but also to ensure Portage is a better place."

The organization is already gearing up for their next campaign, with the official launch to take place on September 8th at the William Glesby Centre.