Leisel Milligan saw the need to provide winter coats to newcomers, so she took action and became the lead organizer for the Neepawa Newcomers Coat Room.

When asked about why she is doing this, she said, “For me personally, this has been growing over the last several years, this desire to really welcome our newcomers in a practical way. And when I look back over those years, I think it was just interacting with newcomers, hearing their stories and just having this realization that some point along the way this is really a huge deal to immigrate to Canada. Just hearing the financial and emotional difficulties, the culture and physical shock. I don’t know if climate shock is a real term but it’s a real experience.”

Subsequently, she came to a realization that she can’t do it on her own and that she needed to reach out to the community for support. She was glad that with the overwhelming support of the community they were able to form this small group called Neepawa Newcomers Coat Room. The organization consists of a four member core group along with the support of Church groups, Town of Neepawa, The Filipino-Canadian Assoc., Neepawa Settlement, ArtsForward and others. Through this great collaboration, they were able to collect lots of donated winter coats for different age groups and will do a two full day showroom this October. Newcomers can look for their needed winter coats but need to book an appointment first.  

When asked about the challenges she encountered and lessons learned along the way, she mentioned that there is a need to have data so when they approach the larger organizations they can present the actual needs instead of just the perceived needs. Also, she shared that one of the major challenges she encountered is the lack of communication to other organizations so she is looking forward to the accomplishment report after this year’s project and to share it to the community.  

Host Don Walmsley, who is the Executive Director of Neepawa Settlement, commended Leisel and their core group because there have been similar initiatives before but this is the first time that there is an organizational structure and it is very well organized.