Village News

There is a lot happening at the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV). Besides the busyness of preparing for a new season of events, exhibits and welcoming guests on our grounds in a safe way, we have also received several grants. These grants not only allow us to maintain the museum and our 30 heritage buildings/monuments, but they also allow us to develop new initiatives.

Here is a sample of grants from the past month:

• New Horizons federal grant for $10,000 to do the landscaping our new Dirk Willems Peace Garden
• Manitoba Habitat provincial grant of $50,000 to stabilize the shoreline of our rapidly eroding pond and build a path to circumnavigate it
• Thomas Sill private grant for $10,000 to replace our aging water heaters
• Penner Farm Services private grant/donation of $20,000 to refresh our large Animal barn and farmyard
• Manitoba Sports, Culture and Heritage are now providing MHV and six other Signature museums at least $62,000 annually from a new heritage endowment fund. This will go towards our operations and strategic initiatives.

Last week, the Manitoba government also announced new funding for the Arts and Cultural sector, of which MHV is a part. We wholeheartedly resonate with what Randy Joynt, Executive Director of the Manitoba Arts Council said about it:

This funding is very welcome news for the arts and cultural sector. The importance of arts and culture has never been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic yet the arts and cultural sector has been devastated by the profound disruption in its core work – bringing people together. We thank the government for this critical support towards the sector’s recovery.

To be sustainable, MHV must diligently seek the funding that is available. We are blessed to have local, provincial and federal support for our work. Based on the approval rate of our grant applications we can tell you that they believe in what we are doing here at MHV.

In addition, I want to thank all our staff, volunteers and donors who also “make the village go round”. We will especially miss Jo-Ann and Bernie Friesen, who after five years of great work here are moving to B.C. to be closer to their children. Thank you, Jo-Ann for being such an energetic and caring Gift Shop, Reception and Office Manager. In the meantime, MHV is not sitting idle this year but we are working hard to provide a safe place for our community to visit and enjoy as we all recover from this persistent pandemic.