The warming conditions are preparing residents for summer events around the region, including those put on by several local organizations.
Art Schroeder, the Executive Director at Youth For Christ: Youth Unlimited (YFC) in Portage la Prairie, shared excitedly about several of the plans they have in place for the coming days.
"We've had upwards of 20-some guys come into our small little indoor skate park. They're super excited about the weather changing. They went out early, they had some guys volunteering out there to shovel off some of the snow. So, the outdoor skate park is bare and they're out there whenever they can. So, we run Tuesdays there as well as Fridays and some Saturdays. So yeah, it's a happening place right now."
Schroeder notes that this is in conjunction with other efforts they run outdoors, including at their location North of the railroad tracks, The Door. He says they are working to get all of their programming needs worked out.
"We do some gym blasts. These are high school or junior high school events, and the gym blasts are really meant to help build unity within your student body. And so, we've got a few of those happening. We've got one in PCI this next week. We've got one out in Carberry in May, and I think we have another one here in Portage in June as well. So, we've got a few of these. It's just two hours of great activity," Schroeder continues. "We come up with all kinds of crazy games that involves all the students. And so, the teams work together, they get points at the end of the gym, blast one team is crowned the gym, the gym blast champion for the year and yeah. So, we have a few of those happening. We also have our summer program that we're getting ready for. We've got working on hiring some summer staff right now who will help with our summer program."
Schroeder also highlighted that fundraising is an on-going effort, which will continue on Friday, with their perogy supper sale on Friday. You can find more details on that on YFC's website.