Each fall and spring, the recreation department of the Town of Neepawa puts together an open house for organisations to showcase their programs and allow youth to sign up but also seek volunteers from the community. This year we took the opportunity to talk to three new organisations to the community.

Special Olympics, a sports organisation with the mandate to include people with cognitive disabilities and developmental delays, is making an effort to move out of Brandon and into the greater Westman region. While they have no programs running in Neepawa right now, they are reaching out to the community to see what the needs and wants are in this area. If someone locally wants to start a program in a particular sport, they have some foundational money available to support that and will help with the registration system.

Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op is starting a Kids Club, which will be free for children 12 and under to join. Members will get coupons for their birthdays and invitations to special events in Neepawa and Gladstone. These events include things like a drive-in movie, a halloween party, and more. Co-op representative Ally Potrebka indicates they will be making an effort to have events in both Gladstone and Neepawa to ensure all kids have a chance to participate.

The Neepawa Dart Group is an organisation that was founded just this year. The organiser used to play darts at a competitive level in the Philippines before emigrating to Neepawa, and has begun playing in Canadian competitive leagues. Seeing a gap in youth darts representation for Manitoba in general, he took it upon himself to start a group in Neepawa and is looking towards getting enough players to compete at a national level. The organisation set up a dartboard to allow kids to try out the sport at the registration evening. Darts, says the organiser, is a great winter activity in Manitoba, and one which does not require a lot of expensive equipment to get started.

Other organisations in attendance included ArtsForward, the Neepawa Gymnastics Club, 4H, Minor Hockey, the Neepawa Curling Club, and more.