Robyn Wiebe & Terry Klippenstein

The Pembina Valley Filmmakers Forum (PVFF) held its first public screening this past weekend.   

On Saturday, February 25th the big screen at Morden's Kenmor Theatre was lit up by a made-in-Manitoba film titled, "Moving On."

Santiago Larrauri, the group's screenwriter and director with nearly three decades experience in the industry, says the story line follows a woman who is experiencing loss.  

Tuesday was an exciting day for high school students in the Pembina Valley who plan to pursue a career as a piping tradesperson.  

A large group of students, parents, education and industry leaders, community members and dignitaries gathered at Morden Collegiate Institute for the grand opening of the MCI Technology Centre. 

RRTVA Director Lane Curry says it's always exciting to celebrate new infrastructure. 

Pandemic restrictions forced school divisions in the region to find an alternate means of connecting with the public.

One tool to emerge from that experience continues to prove useful. 

"We did find some success with doing a community survey around our budget," explains Brian Fransen, board chair for WSD, 

"We are going to be doing it again this year, reaching out to the community with some fairly standard questions about what some thoughts are on priorities within the school division with budgetary implications. 

Another Winkler resident is in the running to fill Candice Bergen's now vacated seat as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar. 

Born and raised on the poor, western side of Kenya, Josh Okello feels his experience of growing up in Africa and living in Canada helps him see opportunities to improve life in the riding's communities. 

Since September 2022, the population of Morden has continued to grow. That increase is reflected in the student count of Western School Division. 

"We've had a fairly significant continued increase of students since September [2022]," says Stephen Ross, Superintendent of WSD.  

"We've got about 35 more students than we had at the end of September, so that's almost a class-and-1/2. It creates challenges as we're growing as well, but it's a really good problem to have. For the first time we did pass 2100 students and we're heading towards 2200 as our next target." 

The community of Morden gathered to celebrate local business excellence at the Morden Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala Thursday evening.  

Lili Krushel, owner of Bella's Castle, was named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2022. 

"I'm truly honoured to receive this award," said Krushel. "I was very surprised, and very happy, for the recognition. I feel very, very thankful for all the people that helped me along this journey, especially my family and our employees. Morden has been amazing to us!"

Monday, January 16th was payday for Eden Foundation, and a show of support for mental health in the region.

In December 2022, PembinaValleyOnline partnered with Valley Fiber to host the Season of Giving fundraiser in support of the Winkler-based organization.

This week's heavy wet snowfall did not deter Morden Christmas Cheer from wrapping up another season by delivering hundreds of Christmas hampers throughout the community.

A volunteer with Christmas Cheer for the past fifteen years, chairperson Carolyn Schellenberg says she's always enjoyed being involved in the community.

Every year since COVID they've had to revamp everything, said Schellenberg, and 2022 was no different. Aside from a few frustrations, things worked out very well in the end. 

The Youth for Christ (YFC) drop-in center in Carman is undergoing a major expansion and face lift to it's interior and exterior. 

Tyler Friesen is director of The Back Door.

During the month of Movember, Morden Fire and Rescue raised $1,700 to help fund men's health projects.

Sean Christianson, a firefighter and paramedic with Morden Fire and Rescue, says his involvement with Movember began with a desire to build camaraderie, as well as raise awareness for men's physical and mental health.