can i volunteer with prairie partners or the sawmill?
Yes! Absolutely. We highly encourage volunteers are and always looking for partnerships!
Volunteer opportunities include; sporting events, coffee outings, bingo, trips, helping out with fundraiser and events, volunteer Board of Directors, and even small things like taking people for walks or to the lake for a picnic.
Volunteers are required to provide a clear criminal record check, child abuse, and driver’s abstract if necessary.
Prairie Partners will reimburse the cost of these checks.
Where do you receive your funding from?
Prairie Partners receives funding from the Province of Manitoba. We work with a branch called Community Living, DisABILITY Service.
The Sawmill does not receive any funding from the government.
Why do the sawmill hours change?
In the past, the Sawmill has employed youth in our community for evening employment. As we do not receive any funding for the Sawmill during the day, we are not able to staff two employees in the evening as our revenues do not cover the fixed costs, or costs of staffing.
The Sawmill is currently known for being a lunch and coffee spot, but we are always looking at ways to expand our hours that are affordable!
How do you afford to do so many renovations to your day program building and the sawmill?
We apply for grants! Almost every renovation or upgrade that you have seen over the past 4 years has been done with a government grant. We would not be able to pay for upgrades such as the ones we have done without those grants.
Do the people you support get paid regular wages?
This is something that we are striving towards. We are not funded to pay minimum wage within our training programs which is why we work hard at securing people employment in the community.
Each person earns a different rate depending on what they are doing. Everything that is made in house has a labor cost associated with it that gets paid back to the person(s) that created it. There are tags on some of our items that indicate who made it.
what are some important things to note about prairie partners and the sawmill?
We love visitors! Please come and take a tour, or just pop in to say hi.
We encourage pet visits (if your animal companion has their rabies vaccinations!)
We take donations of gently used books for the Sawmill to resell.
We like to volunteer so if you’re looking for some great people to help out with your event, give us a call or e-mail at the information listed on the contact page.
No, we won’t give out our cinnamon bun recipe but we can suggest ways of creating something that works for you! It involves taste tasting so it’s a win, win for everyone.