The cheques were mailed to the recipients of the 2023 Killarney-Turtle Mountain Donor's Choice program.

Twenty-one organizations were listed earlier this spring, and all the funds are collected fully by October.  Cheques are to be mailed by the end of November.

Committee member, Barbara Peacock, says the Donor's Choice program works very well for everyone who wants to give. With flyers mailed out to area residents in April, folks can check mark the organizations they would like to support without have multiple organizations asking for donations throughout the year.

"It's really quite good to be able to select the charities that you want without having to chase each one of those charities down in order to contribute," says Peacock.

"Some communities do more with supporting more local organizations within their community," she explains. "In Killarney-Turtle Mountain it's about half of them are local for the various things that go on within the community itself, and that's always good!"

Organizations on the Killarney-Turtle Mountain Donor's Choice:

  1. Alzheimer's Society of Manitoba
  2. Arthritis Society
  3. Canadian Cancer Society
  4. Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation
  5. Canadian National Institute of the Blink (CNIB)
  6. Crohn's and Colitis
  7. Canadian Diabetes Association
  8. Heart and Stroke Foundation
  9. Kidney Foundation of Canada
  10. Killarney and Area Foodbank
  11. Killarney Habitat for Humanity
  12. Killarney Refugee Project
  13. Killarney Turtle Mountain Arts Council
  14. Lakeland Regional Library
  15. Lung Association for Manitoba 
  16. Multiple Sclerosis Society of Manitoba 
  17. The Killarney Foundation Inc.
  18. Tri-Lake Health Centre Auxiliary/Palliative Care
  19. Turtle Mountain Flywheel Club
  20. STARS Air Ambulance
  21. J.A.V. David Museum

Barbara Peacock submitting a donation to Donor's Choice is quite easy. Folks can drop off their envelope that contains their list of organizations they wish to support, and their cheques, in a specialized box at Westoba Credit Union and at the Municipal office.

She says this is a much more efficient way of collecting donations than what they did quite a number of years ago, and that was canvassing the town and knocking on doors.  "It was difficult getting people at home, and those who had to drive out in the country might have to try 2 or 3 times before they'd get someone at home.  So, having the list of choices delivered to everyone in the mail is much better."

Peacock says the first year after the switch to the Donor's Choice list some folks thought they were obligated to contribute to all the organizations on the list and so hesitated to be giving at all, but it didn't take long for the community to catch on to the new concept and now the local committee has strong support from their community.

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