Life in the Valley - Issue 7 - October, 2021

Celebrating Business

SERVING HOMETOWN SERVICE

PAGE 78

FOR 65 YEARS

HURON WINDOWS | WOLFE ENTERPRISES | PRECISION LAND SOLUTIONS | ARCTIC SPAS | UNITED WAY

page 40

page 68

page 52

page 94

page 20

LGT / Fruit ‘N More Wiebe Funeral Homes Central Station Border View Electric page 32 page 52 page 64 page 20

TITAN

By

Arctic Zone with your logo

46 / ea

$

for twenty four While supplies last

Contact my Elves for details

PRAIRIE SKY PROMOTIONS Ken Bergman 204-324-7570

Gustavo Peters 204-362-4498

Duke Klassen 204-362-0049

Myron Cornelson 204-362-4353

Colleen Kehler 204-332-2556

prairieskypromotions.com

Terence Hesom 204-362-7204

Eric Giesbrecht 204-362-7726

Celebrating Business

HURON WINDOW CORPORATION

MANUFACTURING

FOR 40YEARS PAGE 40

LGT / Fruit ‘N More Wiebe Funeral Homes Central Station Border View Electric page 32 page 52 page 64 page 20

Tough Duck Toque with your logo

18 / ea

$

for twenty four While supplies last

Contact my Elves for details

PRAIRIE SKY PROMOTIONS Ken Bergman 204-324-7570

Gustavo Peters 204-362-4498

Duke Klassen 204-362-0049

Myron Cornelson 204-362-4353

Colleen Kehler 204-332-2556

prairieskypromotions.com

Terence Hesom 204-362-7204

Eric Giesbrecht 204-362-7726

Celebrating Business

HAULING WOLFE ENTERPRISES

FOR 25YEARS PAGE 68

LGT / Fruit ‘N More Wiebe Funeral Homes Central Station Border View Electric page 32 page 52 page 64 page 20

Herringbone Sherpa Blanket with your logo

71 / ea

$

for twenty four While supplies last

Contact my Elves for details

PRAIRIE SKY PROMOTIONS Ken Bergman 204-324-7570

Gustavo Peters 204-362-4498

Duke Klassen 204-362-0049

Myron Cornelson 204-362-4353

Colleen Kehler 204-332-2556

prairieskypromotions.com

Terence Hesom 204-362-7204

Eric Giesbrecht 204-362-7726

Celebrating Business

DIGGING PRECISION LAND SOLUTIONS

FOR 15YEARS PAGE 52

Origaudio Speaker with your logo

59 / ea

$

for twelve

While supplies last

Contact my Elves for details

PRAIRIE SKY PROMOTIONS Ken Bergman 204-324-7570

Gustavo Peters 204-362-4498

Duke Klassen 204-362-0049

Myron Cornelson 204-362-4353

Colleen Kehler 204-332-2556

prairieskypromotions.com

Terence Hesom 204-362-7204

Eric Giesbrecht 204-362-7726

Celebrating Business

ARCTIC SPAS

TUBBING

FOR 10YEARS PAGE 94

LGT / Fruit ‘N More Wiebe Funeral Homes Central Station Border View Electric page 32 page 52 page 64 page 20

Six-Panel

Retro Trucker Cap with your logo

1750 / ea

$

for twenty four While supplies last

Contact my Elves for details

PRAIRIE SKY PROMOTIONS Ken Bergman 204-324-7570

Gustavo Peters 204-362-4498

Duke Klassen 204-362-0049

Myron Cornelson 204-362-4353

Colleen Kehler 204-332-2556

prairieskypromotions.com

Terence Hesom 204-362-7204

Eric Giesbrecht 204-362-7726

Celebrating Business

GIVING UNITED WAY

FOR 1 YEAR PAGE 20

LGT / Fruit ‘N More Wiebe Funeral Homes Central Station Border View Electric page 32 page 52 page 64 page 20

life in the valley

12

Winkler’s newest community, carefully planned to enhance every family member’s day-to-day life.

Lots available at NorthPointTrails.ca Homes available at NorthPointHomes.ca life in the valley

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CONTENT Hometown Service

Huron Window Corporation

Serving for 65 years

Manufacturing for 40 years

78

40

Arctic Spas

United Way

Tubbing for 10 years

Giving for 1 year

94

20

LIFE IN THE VALLEY

IS PUBLISHED BY

SERIOUS MARKETING

admin@seriousmarketing.ca 204.325.0283

66 STROKES OF GENIUS 102 Janzen’s Paint

74 MONEY MATTERS Access Credit Union

HOPE THRIFT SHOP Community Spotlight

29 GARDEN GALS Morden Nurseries

CELEBRATING BUSINESS

October 2021

Wolfe Enterprises

Precision Land Solutions

68

52

Salem Homes

Fifteeze Repair

Hauling for 25 years

Digging for 15 years

32

Taste of the Valley Kevin Funk

104

92

moonliteautobody.com | 420 Airport Drive, Winkler | windylanetowing.ca

HOMES

A WONDERFUL PLACE TO CALL HOME!

davehconst@gmail.com • text 204.325.3184 Morden, Manitoba life in the valley

16

Proudly representing the communities of the Pembina Valley/Central Region in the Manitoba Legislature

BLAINE PEDERSEN MLA for Midland

MLA for Morden—Winkler

CAMERON FRIESEN

JOSH GUENTER

midlandmla@outlook.com 204-745-2203

info@cameronfriesen.ca 204-822-1088

info@joshguenter.ca 204-324-8957

life in the valley

17

MLA for Borderland

FIRST WORD

life team Alejandro Penner

REBECCA DYCK editor We have looked forward to this issue all year, it’s a clear favourite since the theme is celebration! This is our second consecutive year of dedicating our October issue to the celebration of milestones. Whether it’s 1 year or 65, we are excited to come alongside these businesses and organizations and commend them for their dedication.

Something interesting happens when you breakdown your history year by year. Memories start flooding back, the good and the bad, and all the things you had thought were important at the time but now realize how insignificant they really were. We often think “wouldn’t it have been great to know then what I know now?” It’s true, hindsight is 20/20.

I have heard many business owners tell their story. One phrase I have heard over and over again is “We didn’t think we’d make it through that year”, all of which still have thriving companies. They made it through and are stronger because of it. Stories like that give us hope.

So often, we are so stuck in the here-and-now that we lose sight of what is to come. Another thing these business owners will tell you is that hardships are inevitable but the way you navigate them will shape you into who you are moving forward. Whether you’re a business owner or not, I think we could all agree that we don’t enjoy hard times and we’d certainly never wish for more of them; but without them we may not appreciate the good times as much as we should.

When the struggles pass and we’ve cleaned up all the wreckage, it’s time to celebrate! That is our goal with this issue of Life in the Valley.

Let’s celebrate with these businesses as we read their stories.

We have so much to learn from the entrepreneurs who have helped shape our community. We hope you enjoy this publication, if you know any of the faces within these pages, reach out and wish them a congratulations!

design lead photography

Eric Fehr

graphic design

Mackenzie Klassen photography

Peter Cantelon writer

Steven Sukkau writer

Kevin Friesen sales

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS Tony Wall Ryan Bueckert

Carpentry 244 Cochlan Dr., Morden • 204.822.1234

Winkler is city of generosity. It’s a

community that helps out and provides for those who need a hand

up. It’s a community of compassion

and caring. It’s a community of understanding.

Let 's Get Back to T hat life in the valley

19

The United Way Pembina Valley is less than a year old.

“Hold on a minute,” you say, “I’m pretty sure it’s older than that. I mean I’ve donated in the past and so I am certain of this.”

Well – you’re right and you’re in need of a little updating too.

You see The United Way has been represented in the Pembina Valley for 54 years since 1967 as the Morden and Area United Way and separately, the Winkler and District United Way. Then, as of January 1, 2021, in a stroke of wonderful unity the two organizations married and gave birth to the United Way Pembina Valley.

It’s sort of a United, United Way in that sense or maybe The United Way squared? Whatever you call

the organization, one thing is clear – as of 2021 The United Way Pembina Valley is bigger, the people involved are continuing the 54 year history, and it is bringing a matching vision and passion to the region.

The United Way Pembina Valley is part of a much larger organization that goes all the way back to 1887 when it was founded 134 years ago by a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers and a rabbi who recognized a need for cooperative action.

The goal was to set aside differences and come together in recognition that only through united teamwork could some of the era’s most significant problems be addressed. That one initiative blossomed into many over the years and spread around the world.

Today The United Way is a global affiliation of more than 1,800 local non-profits all working together to ensure needs are met through a variety of

life in the valley

20

philanthropic programming, grants and bursaries.

It was this spirit of cooperation that led the Morden and Winkler organizations to start talking about joining forces to meet the growing needs of a growing region.

“There was some concern with the competition between Winkler and Morden,” says past-president Alex Fedorchuk. “How are some of our donors going to react? Well 99.99 percent were totally in favour.

People were supportive. Organizations were supportive.

The overwhelming response was – “it’s about time.””

Both organizations recognized that there was significant duplication of efforts and services. More than 50 percent of the organizations they each supported were the same. Applicants often applied to both and the work to evaluate and apply twice didn’t make sense when they could join forces, streamline efforts and have a greater impact.

The decision to join together reflects the “united” in The United Way and the board of directors hopes it sets something of an example to others between Morden, Winkler and the RM of Stanley.

“There’s no point in agencies submitting applications through both,” says Kim Nelson, president of The United Way Pembina Valley.

“We also thought it was an excellent opportunity to show both communities what could be done by coming together.”

This month, the larger, new and improved United Way launched its fundraising campaign. With dozens of applicants for funding each year, bursaries for students, and the Koats 4 Kids program – greater awareness and increased donations are the life-blood of their work.

Work that doesn’t care about who has the need but simply doing everything that can be done in meeting the need.

“It’s the easiest way for an individual dollar get spread around,” said Chris Willsey, vice-president. “It reaches the farthest end of the community and supports many

initiatives. It’s about the community. Supporting the people doing the hard work that needs to be done.”

It’s the community, the people and the organizations that The United Way and its volunteers have a passion to support. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has put a dent in their ability to meet people face-to-face as restrictions have created distance between people and organizations.

“We were hoping to be in the community more,” says treasurer Anna Wieler. “Go to events, drop the puck at the Flyers game. We typically both hosted skate with Santa and some of those activities and just visiting employers, but that isn’t something you can do these days. It’s just presented some challenges.”

The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is a frightening reality that The United Way is doing everything they can to avoid and they are hoping the community will help keep them front and centre so they can continue to do the work they do best – help others.

With more than 20 years volunteering for The United Way, Fedorchuk is full of insights and stories that communicate why his passion has never waned. His experiences are synonymous with the other board members who echo his stories.

“If it wasn’t for you guys, we wouldn’t be here,” he relates having been told by one organization The United Way has supported. “That was pretty nice.”

Everyone has a story that speaks to their passion and why they continue to volunteer. The opportunity to meet needs in people’s lives means that volunteers are directly contributing and seeing the effect of their efforts.

“I first started joining when it was the Winkler and District United Way and they were in need of board members,” says Nelson. “I went to an information night. I was working at Gateway and we have been a recipient of United Way grants. My children went

life in the valley

21

to the Winkler Daycare who were also recipients of a United Way Grant. It felt like The United Way had touched a variety of areas of my life personally. I was very excited to sign up as a board member.”

The volunteers at United Way Pembina Valley want the community to know they are there for them, even though there may be restrictions that keep them from meeting people and organizations face-to-face.

In the meantime, The United Way continues to do what it does best – give. This is a year of firsts in so many ways. The first year for The United Way Pembina

Valley; the first year of offering bursaries to schools throughout the region. For decades Morden had sponsored $1,000 scholarships to Morden Collegiate and also until recently to Nellie McLung Collegiate in Manitou. In addition, for the past dozen years Morden had sponsored two Bursaries of $750 each at Morden Collegiate for an total annual payout of $2,500. This year, the two High Schools in Winkler were included for the first time, Garden Valley Collegiate and Northlands Parkway Collegiate, each for a $1,000

scholarship and two Bursaries of $750. So, total investment in our youth increased to $7,500. They are very proud of this initiative.

In March, the group announced it had given away more than $135,000 to 23 local non-profits from throughout the region – their first distribution of funds since the merger. It is this kind of success that affirms the decision to bring the two organizations together.

Looking ahead, the Koats 4 Kids (and adults too) program is starting to take donations of winter clothing (coats, hats, mitts, gloves, scarves etc.) at both the

Morden and Winkler fire halls. This was a program previously run solely out of Morden. The merger has meant an expanded program that reaches more people.

While Koats 4 Kids is accepting donations they are also in the planning stages of how distribution will work and when and where people will be able to pick up the items so necessary to get through a Manitoba winter.

Of course, this is what The United Way has always been

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22

about – helping people. Every volunteer and board member has a story or recollection of a time when they have been deeply affected by the efforts of the organization.

employee operation. It makes it easier for your employees to donate.”

The work of United Way Pembina Valley cannot happen without donations and they have been hard at work coming up with ways to make it easier and more

By offering the option of payroll deduction employers open up a world of community impact to their employees and can play a part in helping United Way Pembina Valley grow awareness.

There are all kinds of ways you can donate to The United Way. People can visit their website at www. unitedwaypembinavalley.ca and donate via PayPal. Cheques can be mailed to United Way Pembina Valley, PO Box 758, Morden, MB., R6M 1A7. You can also go

convenient for people. One of those ways is through payroll deductions.

into your local Access Credit Union branch and donate there.

Currently about a dozen organizations make donations to The United Way available through payroll deductions to their employees. Aside from being easy it also helps people track their donations come tax time because they are all listed on the employee’s T4.

“No, employer is to too small or too big,” says treasurer Anna Wieler. “You can be a five or ten

For an organization that is both a year old and more than half a century not only has a lot been accomplished but you can tell they are just getting started. As the Pembina Valley grows so to does the vision of the local United Way, their offerings and commitments. It’s hard to imagine a better way to have an impact on your community.

“There was a young lady from large, poor family who received a scholarship once,” says Fedorchuk. “She wrote us a letter shortly after and she said ‘you may have changed my life’.”

life in the valley

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Pharma Focus

Presented by 360 Stephen Street, Morden MB

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CHILDREN AND THE FLU

If your child does get the flu, take these steps to make your child feel better:

Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory infection.

Unfortunately, young children under 5 years old, especially if they are less than 2 years old, are among the group of people who are at higher risk for serious complications and severe infection.

Flu-related complications that children can experience include increased risk of being hospitalized, ear infections, bacterial or viral infections of the respiratory tract (e.g., pneumonia, croup), or sepsis (a serious blood infection).

Children with the seasonal flu can have symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, decreased appetite, muscle ache, and tiredness.

Sometimes they may experience nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. These symptoms are often confused with cold symptoms.

• Reassure and comfort your child. Let them know you're there for them and that there are many things they can do to get healthy.

• Keep your child at home from school or daycare so that they don't spread the flu to others. Keep them at home until their fever has been gone for at least 24 hours, without the help of any fever-reducing medications, and they are back to their normal activity.

• Remind your child of proper hand-washing, coughing, and sneezing techniques.

• Give a fever-reducing medication, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, if they have a fever.

• Make sure your child eats healthy and stays physically active to keep their immune system strong.

If your child is experiencing more severe flu symptoms or signs of complication, bring your child to a hospital or emergency room right away.

life in the valley

24

Have you checked out the New, Bigger Sunny Day Products store?

Raw and Roasted Nuts for all your holiday season baking needs

Offering you all your favourite authentic Mexican food, as well as spices and fresh peanut butter

(204) 325-8910 www.sunnydayproducts.com 349 Manitoba Road, Winkler MB life in the valley

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Did You Know that windows and doors can account for up

to 25 percent of total house heat loss? This makes a difference on both your environment and on your energy bills when heating your homes in the winter or cooling your homes in the summer.

10 warning signs it’s time to replace your windows and doors

1

Opening or closing them has become difficult.

Drafts can be felt coming in around

3

the window or door.

Visible damage. There’s chipping,

2

deterioration or water stains on or around the window.

Single Pane Windows. Today’s window standards are

made from double, or triple pane glass. Single pane glass windows are sub-standard, drafty, and occasionally unsafe. life in the valley

26

4

5 6

Hard to clean. Has cleaning your windows

become a major hassle? There are many features in new windows that make cleaning a snap.

Replacement parts are hard to find or have been discontinued.

There is an increase on your energy bill. Older windows lack proper insulation and older windows and doors may be ill fitting which may force your air conditioning or heating to work harder.

8

7

Outside noise. If you are hearing outside noise

when your windows are closed, chances are they aren’t providing enough acoustic insulation.

Carpet, furniture and window treatments have started to fade. Single pane glass does the worst job at keeping out the

UV rays that enter through your windows and can fade colours.

10

9

They look bad. Curb appeal sells houses. Modern, energy

models come with the added bonus of being more attractive… which just may help increase your homes resale value.

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Holding the KEY to Your Next Home!

Jenny joined Gables Realty in 2021. She comes with many years of customer service skills and is enthusiastic to assist you with your real estate needs.

Jenny immigrated to Canada from Kazakhstan in 2012. She lives in Morden with her husband Greg and their two children. She has spent the past 10 years as an event planner. This past year, she decided to follow her dream and got her license as a real estate agent.

When choosing Jenny as your real estate agent, you can be sure to be served with great enthusiasm,

Jenny

integrity, and honesty. Jenny is fluent in English and Russian, and is looking forward to assist you in buying or selling your home or answering any other real estate question you may have!

204.384.7918 - jenny@gablesrealty.ca Nataliya began her career with Gables Realty in 2021.

She has had to move many times herself, and understands the challenges that come with moving.

With roots in Israel and the Ukraine, Nataliya moved to Canada in 2016 with her family.

Nataliya got married this summer to Yevheniy. Together they enjoy taking long walks around Morden.

Real estate is her passion and she also loves designing new house concepts.

When choosing Nataliya as your real estate agent, you will find a committed agent that will ensure a smooth and flawless real estate transaction. Nataliya is fluent in English, Ukrainian, Russian, and Hebrew.

204.823.1538 - nataliya@gablesrealty.ca

Nataliya

Sandra’s top three passions: Sales, Houses/Homes and working with People get combined in her Real Estate Career. She began pursuing this exciting path in 2005. Since then, she has had many successful years in the Real Estate industry and opened “Gables Realty” in Morden in 2011.

Sandra and her husband Bevan, have lived in the Morden area since 1984. They have restored numerous old-character homes throughout the years, which has given Sandra “hands on” experience with houses and renovations.

When choosing Sandra for your real estate agent, her real estate knowledge, experience, and

Sandra

expertise will accompany you along every step of the buying and/or selling process. Sandra looks forward to working with you to help you sell, or purchase a home, a farm, or a business.

204.362.8582 - sandra@gablesrealty.ca

Rick has enjoyed working as a Realtor for Gables Realty since 2013. He works hard to gain

the trust of clients in areas of residential, commercial, recreational, and farm related real estate.

Rick works from his home in Manitou where he and his wife Dianne have resided since June 2020.

His background experience is in agriculture and ag sales prior to real estate.

When choosing Rick for your real estate agent, you can be sure that you have chosen a knowledgeable agent that will carefully walk you through the whole process.

204.208.4000 - rick@gablesrealty.ca

Rick

Ashton began his career at Gables Realty in 2016. Being immersed in the real estate culture at a young age, Ashton knew that becoming a real estate agent was the path he wanted to pursue.

Ashton’s customer focused and personable approach have given him success in the real estate world.

Developing, property investments, property management, and renovating homes is not only a huge part of his life, but his passion.

When choosing Ashton for your real estate agent, he will provide knowledgeable and excellent

Ashton

service when buying or selling your new home, investment property or whatever it may be!

204.384.7888 - ashton@gablesrealty.ca

376 Stephen Street - Morden, MB R6M 1T5 life in the valley

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life in the valley

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Garden Gals

FALL TO-DO LIST: GARDEN EDITION

Some may think that with summer coming to an end, so has their time in the garden.

Here is a list of things you can accomplish before the snow starts coming down that will set you up for success come spring.

Plant spring flowering bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, and crocus. It is also the best time to plant garlic for harvesting larger bulbs in late summer.

Mulch plants with wood mulch, clean straw, mulched leaves, or clean grass clippings to retain moisture and provide additional insulation for the roots.

Leave seed heads from grasses, perennials, and shrubs to provide winter interest and food for birds. It also helps to trap the snow for added winter protection for the roots. It is easier to clean them up in the spring when everything is dry. The only time it is best to remove in fall is if they are diseased.

Clean up as many weeds as possible to prevent them from reseeding next spring.

Water all evergreens well in fall so they have adequate moisture to prevent dehydration during the colder months.

If its really dry, give all plants some water before freeze-up to protect the roots from the cold.

Many perennials can be divided in the fall, some even prefer to be divided in fall, such as peonies and lilies.

Add amendments to enrich the soil, such as well composted manure and/or compost.

Use tree protectors, spray repellants to prevent damage from animals.

Use a dormant spray in late fall to clean up any overwintering pests and diseases.

204-325-2254 info@mordennurseries.com

life in the valley

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Nestled in the oaks and pines of this beautiful historical downtown Morden property stands a whimsical castle. An iconic local building that has stood the test of time and is now yours to explore.

Built by Harry Black in 1902, it’s been home to lawyers, judges, doctors and business men. The Krushels took helm of the charming Victorian style field stone home in 2016 and haven’t looked back.

“It was always our intention to build a business, and that business plan has continued to grow and evolve ever since.”

In the summer of 2016, Bella’s Castle hosted their first guests as a Bed and Breakfast. Chris was in charge of cooking breakfast and Lili would serve guests. Lili’s favourite part was to visit with the guests and hear stories of where they were from and what brought them to stay at the Castle. Both Krushels children, Mia Bella (the namesake) and her younger brother Daniel, have grown up in this business, meeting new and wonderful people with 1000’s of guests from across Canada and around the world staying to date.

The spring of 2019 the Castle property was taken to the next level. A massive outdoor patio area was added, recently coined The Courtyard, including unique Chalet seating areas as well as a stage where they’ve hosted multiple performances. The jewel on the crown was the addition of the 20X80 foot transparent tent, boasting chandeliers, wooden floors and seating for 120. This quickly launched Bella’s Castle into becoming one of Southern Manitoba’s premier wedding venues with 100’s of happy couples saying “I do “.

In the winter of 2019, the Bed and Breakfast underwent major renovations to the guest rooms, including the addition of 3-piece bathrooms in every suite. Each room includes a 4-post queen bed, bar fridge, coffee maker, tv (cable, Netflix), wifi and tables and chairs for added comfort.

People looking for a unique location to tie the knot, soak up the sun with friends or relax and unwind for a weekend don’t need to look much further, it’s all right here.

In the summer, our rooms quickly book up and wedding season is now booking a year in advance. From the humble beginnings of this husband-and-wife duo, it has blossomed into a staff of upwards to 20 crew members.

“We set out to do the impossible and we’ve far exceeded our goals, it’s pretty amazing. There’s a quote from the movie Field of Dreams often misquoted but nonetheless “build it and he (they) will come”. Well, they certainly did and we couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished in these past 5 years and look forward to many more years of success.”

Next time you’re in Morden, you must be sure to visit this hidden gem in The Pembina valley – Bella’s Castle “This is where the magic happens”.

www.bellascastle.com Photo credit Casey Nolin Photography and Planner Tricia Bachewich Events

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Repair

Fifteeze For the past eight years, Fifteeze Repair has fixed broken things; a skill Tim Hiebert carries on from his grandpa, WWII survivor Jan Michnik.

Michnik, or ‘Gramps’ as he came to be known, arrived in Canada as a refugee, fleeing the war that was ravaging Poland. He hitchhiked across Canada before arriving in Kaleida where he met his wife and began farming, attempting to create a life for himself after losing everything in Europe.

“He was just trying to find himself,” Tim explains on a comfortable August evening, looking out across a sea of corn from their property in Reinfeld.

“He lost his family in the war and never learned what happened to his siblings, he had no idea if they survived or not.”

Like many of his generation who survived the war, Gramps didn’t talk much about the past. The only visible reminders were the shrapnel marks that dotted his arms and shoulder. Family members heard fragments of his past; living in dumpsters, trying to survive in bombed out villages. When Tim reminisces about Gramps’ stern mechanical lessons on the farm, it’s not hard to imagine why, after everything he had been through, Gramps didn’t have patience for helpers that fooled around or didn’t take machine repair seriously.

“If you didn’t have an interest and you didn’t want to listen and you were just there to joke around, he didn’t tolerate that. It’s not that he didn’t like you or nothing but you had to get out of there. I was always the one that was invited in but I was also the one that came in looking to learn.”

life in the valley

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e From as early as nine years old, Tim would assist his Gramps in the farm garage. He was encouraged to tinker, break open machines and pull them apart if only to learn how to put them back together. And under Gramps’ tutelage, he was taught to understand why a thing broke in the first place and fix it so it doesn’t happen again.

past to better understand the success, and future, of Fifteeze Repair. “That’s one of the things that he pushed with Tim, use your creativity to figure this out.”

“His teaching was never just telling you how to do it, but he’s telling you why you do it this way.” So, from a young age Tim began to investigate what was actually going on under the hood of an engine, and ask “why did it break that way?” And like many frontier farmers of Gramps’ day, you had to be self-sufficient when it came to maintaining equipment.

“When you worked with Gramps”, Tim explains, “he made sure to involve all your senses”, “no, feel this,” and then he would put a dollop of engine grease on your hand.

“He learned how to work with very little,” Teresa says, joining us on the deck as we continue looking to the

Gramps passed away five years ago, but was able to visit the burgeoning new mechanic shop on George Ave. in Winkler, started by his young protege.

“Do you feel that?” And slowly you would begin to feel the metal shavings that had been flaking off into the engine oil, and eventually you would know what to look for. Or he would stick a part in front of your nose, “what does that smell like?”

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“I remember this one time he stuck this electrical box I I remember this one time he stuck this electrical box in my face, he just put it up to my nose and asked, “what do you smell?” It smelled like burnt wiring, there’s a certain odour when copper burns and that’s what I told him.”

“Yup, it’s shot,” Gramps would reply. “I always thought he just did that to bug me. Just suddenly take my hand and smear some grease in it and ask, “What do you see?” And then you’re looking through it and he’d take out a magnet and you’re like, “oh well there’s shavings in here.” And he’d say, “There ya go. Now go wash yourself.” “But that’s the kind of man he was,” Tim says, swatting a stray mosquito as the summer evening turns to dusk.

“He was not just by the book, it was by touching, feeling and smelling if you can, and he would never tell you the answer straight away, he would just drill you and drill you and drill you, but that was his style of teaching.”

Finally, one day Gramps simply announced, “You’re a mechanic.” “Later on I got it,” Tim says of receiving his grandfather’s seal of approval. “But at the time I didn’t know what he meant.”

After graduation, Tim worked as a mechanic at an ag dealership before challenging and passing his diesel ticket. He would go on to become a service manager before driving a semi truck for nearly a decade. Tired of being on the road so often, and financially secure, the family decided to start their own business.

“I already had the service manager years, and the mechanics, we finally had some finances in place to get things started,” Tim explains.

And the business is a full family operation with two of their three boys employed in the business. It’s also where the name Fifteeze comes from; the five T’s from the Hiebert family, Tim, Teresa, Taylor, Tyson, and Trenton.

In eight years, Tim says they’ve resisted the temptation of rapid growth and expansion to maintain a high level of quality. “I can be a little more hands on,” he explains.

Fifteeze Repair continues to serve a need in the community working on unique drive trains, busses, engine rebuilds on heavy duty trucks and equipment including agriculture and construction equipment.

“The more we get into it, the more we’re starting to see people realize, “oh you do this and will save me a trip to Winnipeg.’”

The spirit of apprenticeship, like the one Tim received from Gramps, is also baked into Fifteeze Repair. Since opening they have seen many Red River students apprentice at the shop. You can see Gramps’ influence mirrored in the Fifteeze Repair culture. From how apprenticeship has become a priority, taking ownership of your work and career, and intimately understanding the machines you’re fixing and why they broke in the first place.

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“I want my clientele to recognize my guys as individuals, like where they would almost go past me and say, “I want him to do this job because I know he can do it,” our mechanics build their own clientele.”

In eight years, they’ve had eight students come through with the Red River Collegiate Technical Vocational Program. Each put in 110 work hours at a certified shop to complete the program. And a number of those students have been hired at Fifteeze while becoming certified journeyman mechanics.

“It’s been good to see the guys trained up and I encourage my boys to keep working in that direction, don’t just fix what you’re doing but understand why it broke and what caused it.”

Years later, well into his 80’s, Gramps would visit the shop on George Ave. Tim notes he was fairly active right to the end.

He remembers Gramps showing up one day while working on a repair. Tim needed to heat a gear so that he could fit it onto a shaft. They have an oven in the shop to pre-heat parts so they expand, rather than bash things to fit and risk wrecking bearings. Tim knew it had to sit in the oven at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time for it to expand correctly. Well, after telling him what he was doing, Gramps knew exactly how many hours and at what temperature the gear had to bake at.

the roles were reversed. I was asking him to look at things, and smell this part… he got a kick out of that, I think it brought back those fun memories.”

Looking ahead to the future, Tim says they want to continue to serve the community and understand their customers’ problems, while mentoring the next generation of mechanics.

“I enjoy watching things grow, I enjoy watching the young crowd come in and learn, move forward, and take over. I expect my boys to take over one day,” he says, motioning to the young men in the glow of the patio next to us, as the late summer evening turns into a warm summer night. “We’re not perfect, and obviously nothing is, our clients are bringing us stuff that’s usually broken.”

But like any good mechanic, the Hiebert family and their team take things as they are. Like Gramps they figure out how and why it broke, and carefully, usually with an apprentice watching closely, put it back together.

“The man was sharp, he walked over and double checked my work on the camshaft, and at this point

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Octo be r is Learn the SOUNDS of Fire Safety October is Fire Prevention Month! Learn the SOUNDS of Fire Safety, raise fire safety awareness, and help ensure your home and family is protected.

Altona

Carman

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Morden

Fi re Preve ntion Month

Did you know?

Fire Prevention month is the perfect time to educate and talk with your whole family about fire safety – include testing alarms, changing the batteries or upgrading to 10year sealed battery alarms, how to use a fire extinguisher and escape route planning.

• 3 of every 5 home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no working smoke alarms • Less than 50% of homeowners have an escape plan • Carbon monoxide (CO) is the #1 cause of accidental poisoning in the US • 60% of consumers do not test their smoke and CO alarms monthly* • Only 47% of people report having CO alarms in their home • Unattended cooking is the #1 cause of home fires

Plum Coulee

Roland

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Winkler

37

Contact Ryan or Joan

204-331-4646 - buhl

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Monthly Amenities – Meal credit in our café ($200.00 – 1 person) – Snacks – Monthly housing costs – Utilities (electricity, gas, water) – Property taxes – Building insurance cost – Weekly light housekeeping – Weekly linen and towel service – Complimentary Laundry facilities on each floor – Trash pick up – Apartment maintenance and repair – Appliance maintenance and repair

– Maintenance/improvement costs – Entertainment/Social Activities – Administrative Expenses – Landscaping and snow removal

n for more information

leralcentre@gmail.com life in the valley

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MANUFACTURING FOR

40 YEARS

HURON WINDOW

CORPORATION

Imagine a home without windows. Imagine no windows in your bedroom, none in the doors.

Imagine going to work without windows. No windows in RVs or campers and none at the cabin.

It sounds pretty miserable, right? We need windows.

We need to see the world around us; to have access to sunlight or even just wave at a neighbour who is walking by. Windows and the glass that makes them a reality are a critical part of our lives.

For more than 5,600 years, people have been working with glass and for the past 41 years Huron Window Corporation has been doing its part to continue the tradition in Morden and the Pembina Valley.

The story of Huron Windows is as much the story of the Fehr family as it is of a prairie manufacturer. No matter where you go throughout the Pembina Valley and around Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Saskatchewan you will encounter Huron Windows.

They’re the windows you’re looking through at work.

They are a part of most of the homes built around here. They keep us warm, let in the light and keep out the drafts. As such a significant part of our day to day lives, how much do you really know about them?

Huron Windows (and doors), like many of the businesses in the region that have stood the strength of time, is a family business whose roots go back even further than the 41 years since it was founded by Vic Fehr. In fact, you have to go back 56 years to 1965 where you would find Vic’s father Bill, then a general contractor, launching his new business, Fehr Glass & Aluminum out of a converted farmhouse which was eventually expanded to a 1,200 square foot facility. life in the valley

1965, when the population of Morden was less than 3,000 people and Winkler was closer to 2,500. It was a year when you might hear Satisfaction come over the radio by a relatively young, new British group called The Rolling Stones while you were driving your brand-new Mercury Cyclone. This is the setting we go back to and find the roots of Huron Windows.

Like many entrepreneurs, Bill Fehr was working in an industry where he began to see a need locally for quality, custom made windows. With the need clearly identified, he set to work starting the business and eventually his boys got involved as well.

In 1973, two significant things occurred that shaped the future of Huron Windows. The first was that in July of 1973 Fehr Glass bought the old GM dealership at the corner of 1st and Thornhill and built a 6,000 square foot facility in Morden where it still sits today. The second was that patriarch Bill Fehr passed away on November 3rd of the same year.

Eventually, Bill’s son Abe would take over the business and today its run by his son Scott. Fehr Glass and Huron Windows are a testimony to the strong and sometimes invisible ties of a small, rural community that bind both person and business.

“They manufactured aluminium windows,” said Vic of Fehr Glass when it first started. “They were hard to come by so Dad just got tired of it and decided to get into it at that point. Eventually, we were looking at something that we could manufacture other than aluminium windows, something that we could build ourselves. We tried buying some wood windows but it didn’t take us long to realise that that wasn’t the way to go.”

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The way to go? Polyvinyl Chloride, better known as PVC; strong and versatile material. PVC would revolutionize many industries, especially windows, for its strength, durability, cost and ease to work with.

Fast forward to 1980 and we find Bill’s son Vic taking up the family tradition and starting his own window company on a larger scale to meet a new, emerging need.

Coming along with Vic was his younger brother Ed, whose innovative and problem solving mind would shape the course of the company in the coming decades as production manager.

“Aluminium was strong for so many years and then it just started phasing out because of the cost,” said Ed. PVC was cost effective and easier to work with compared to aluminum. The demand grew to a point where Fehr Glass built a 15,000 square foot facility to share with Huron and to try and keep up, but eventually demand outpaced even that facility and in 1996 the decision was made to go big.

A 31,500 sq. ft. facility was built at Huron Windows current location at the southwest edge of Morden. That facility has since expanded to 61,000 sq. ft. as demand continued to grow over the years.

“This used to be the old Morden golf course,” said Vic’s son Dustin, who is purchasing manager with Huron.

“Sometimes, you still find balls back in the grass after some digging.”

The question comes up – why Huron Windows? Where did the name come from?

“I remember you came home and you brought four or five names to the table,” said Vic’s son Brodie, general manager. “Which one do you guys like and then took that away.”

They sit around the conference table and reminisce about the history and origins of Huron in a way only family can.

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They tell stories, correct one-another and joke about who does what; who can remember what and collectively marvel at Vic’s ability to remember dates.

What’s it like to work with family? Can you leave the work at work?

“It can be challenging,” said Brodie. “You never leave the work at work…it’s always with you. You have to communicate.”

“You put in a lot of extra hours,” agreed Ed. “You just don’t turn it off, you go in and you get it done.”

For some family businesses, the struggle is growing to allow others in to help meet the demand and keep the growth going. Huron managed to get past that hurdle.

Huron grew from supplying local needs to a network of dealers throughout Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Saskatchewan.”

“Our aim has always been to sell to dealers,” said Ed. “Our sales area hasn’t really changed since the beginning.”

At this point there is some discussion of inter-provincial trade barriers. Something many in the manufacturing

sector understand all too well. Despite the obstacles, Huron has been happy with the growth they have seen through a loyal client base and dealer network that has been developed carefully over the years.

Having been in the space for more than four decades as Huron, the Fehr’s have seen a lot of change but they all agree on what has had the biggest impact.

“To me its technology,” said Dustin. Everyone agrees.

“I remember our first computer and everybody had their jaw on the table,” said Ed. “Now, well you can’t live without it now. You’re at the mercy of the computer. Now we’re into CNC machinery but I still remember that very first IBM computer.”

Technology has impacted everything Huron does from design, manufacturing, sales and marketing and more. There is no aspect of the business that does not leverage the power of computing to generate efficiency – even on the plant floor.

Ed created a system that allows a single employee to lift and move massive panes of glass during the manufacturing process. This was a task that could take two or more employees in the past which means not only

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did it allow for a wider selection of employees regardless of strength to operate the machinery but it cut staff requirements in half developing further efficiencies.

“One person can handle more than 600 pounds,” said Ed. Another significant change is competition. When the Fehr’s first got into glass and window manufacturing there was only one competitor making PVC windows that Vic could recall but that was it. Today the market has seen numerous smaller businesses enter.

“When we started with PVC, I think there was only one PVC window manufacturer in Western Canada,” said Vic. “Now everybody’s making them.”

Being one of the first in the market has given Huron a number of advantages. For one, they continue to have a strong, loyal client base. For another, they have had time to grow capacity where they are one of the only mid-size manufacturers on a sector crowded with small operations or larger national and international ones. Their size and history has meant Huron could focus on innovation and design while leaving a more cookie-cutter approach to the competition where no matter who you are buying from you are getting basically the same product.

“Back then we got in contact with a German designer,” said Ed. “Our window is one of the few that’s custom designed by us - it’s not a mass produced thing and it’s a distinguishing factor.” Brodie and the rest agree.

“We could walk up to 10 different PVC windows suppliers and three or four might have the exact same frame just with a different name,” Dusty said. “It’s just assembly differences. It’s the same window.”

The innovation did not stop there however. Huron has the distinction of having been first to market in a number of areas.

“We were the first window company to come up with a triple weather strip window,” Vic said. “Now the bulk of our sales are in triple pane, they always have been because of energy efficiency and because of reducing sound transmission.”

Why get into making triple pane windows when no one else was? Quality.

“It’s always been the quality thing,” agreed Ed. “We want to make it right the first time.”

Quality of product comes from quality staff. Huron Windows started with two brothers and now has 40 employees between their Morden manufacturing space and the Winnipeg showroom.

The trick to maintaining high quality is keeping staff turnover low. Huron estimates that 90 percent of their employees have been with the company for more than 10 years and some for as many as 20 years and 30 years or more besides the family.

“We’re proud of the fact that 90% of our employees have been with us for 10+ years,” said Brodie. “They do the job and they know the job, year after year you’re getting that consistency. These days if you find a good person, you make every effort to keep them.”

So, what does the future hold for Huron Windows? Well as a Canadian window and door manufacturer Huron has long been in the business of energy efficiency and what goes hand-in-hand with that is recycling.

In order to maintain quality, Huron Windows only uses new PVC from new material but all cut-offs go to a Winnipeg-based recycler for grinding to be turned into recycled PVC products.

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“In the PVC industry, recycling is way up,” said Ed. “Currently, everything that we have gotten cut off from the saw all goes back to get remanufactured.”

Just like aluminum once became too costly to make it an efficient material for use in window manufacture, PVC has started to see its cost rise as global supply chain issues and economic constraints are being brought to bear.

Recycling is not only a responsible part of what Huron does it helps to offset some of those increased costs which translates to keeping the costs down for the customer.

At the end of the day, Vic, Ed, Brodie and Dustin believe that being an innovative, family-run business focused on client satisfaction and caring about employees is what has helped Huron get to where it is today. It has been this focus on these values that has seen Huron Windows continue to be one of the strongest employers in the region 41 years after its humble beginnings.

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Buy local and support Manitoba-owned businesses.

Brag about your find on social media with #buylocalMB

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life in the valley

carmanchamber.ca | 204.750.3050

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Celebrate Small Business Week!

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DEALING WITH STRESS HEADACHES You know the feeling; you can feel it coming on like a slow vice wrapping its claws around the forehead - the discomfort that warns a headache is coming. It happens to millions across the globe with 80-90% having experienced a headache at one point in their lives. There are many causes from imbalances in body chemicals to alterations in blood supply. However, one of the most prevalent types of headaches are those related to stress.

What Are Stress-Related Headaches?

A stress-related headache is also known as a tension headache.

They are typically defined as “a band of pressure” that can be felt around the head and are usually accompanied by tenderness at the back of the head. The pain sometimes starts in the neck or shoulders and progresses through various areas in the head.

What Causes Stress-Related Headaches?

There is no single cause of a stress-related headache. Some triggers include inadequate rest, anxiety, fatigue, repetitive physical strain, and general stress. All can lead to an increase in muscle tension in the head, neck, and shoulders.

Why Should You Visit a Physiotherapist?

Physiotherapy might not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering treatment options for headaches. However, it may be the ideal treatment when experiencing stress headaches. Generally, a physiotherapist will conduct a full review of medical history and a thorough evaluation of current physical abilities and limitations. Through this assessment, a physiotherapist can then determine if the type of headache is one that may be alleviated through physiotherapy.

on the surrounding muscle groups and joints. That is why a common integration in a physiotherapy intervention for stress headaches is stretching.

Get Stronger! The shoulders, back and neck do a lot of “heavy lifting” throughout the day. Believe it or not, the average human head alone weighs over 10 pounds! We all lift every day! So, if the muscles in those areas are weak, they can easily get overworked. A physiotherapist can review and prescribe exercises to target muscle groups. For many people, stronger upper body muscles equate to fewer – and less intense – stress-related headaches.

Addressing posture! It is no secret that how we sit, stand, or perform different tasks influences how much pressure is put on our muscles. This often leads to compression and overworked muscles in the shoulder, chest, and neck areas that can lead to a stress headache. Physiotherapy can assist with modifications to a physical environment, such as work space, and help highlight the importance of frequent position changes. Both are ways to reduce the severity and frequency of the headaches.

Just relax! Time and time again, we get told to relax but how is this done? A physiotherapist can introduce different physical and psychological relaxation therapies that can help lessen stress and the triggers associated with headaches. These therapies can include yoga, breathing strategies, or the application of heat, cold, or compression.

There are several specific ways that a physiotherapist can help reduce stress-related headaches through an individualized treatment plan.

And in the end…

If stress-related headaches are clamping down, an individualized physiotherapy plan may be able to reduce, or even eliminate symptoms.

Hands-on techniques! Soft tissue massage, trigger point release, joint mobilizations (a gentle form of manipulation) and other types of manual therapy can be utilized by physiotherapists. These techniques assist in the reduction of muscle tension and improvement of joint motion providing relief from symptoms associated with stress headaches.

Contact a local physiotherapist who can help!

Stretch It Out! Generally, the more movement that is gained through the neck and shoulders, the less strain that is placed

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PRECI

LAN D SOLU Water is life.

When you live in an agricultural region you know this.

Water, soil, sun and hard work make the foundation of a successful farm. You also learn that there is an important balance to maintain. Too little water and the land dries up and crops fail. Too much water and soil can wash away, plants can drown, crops fail and incomes and livelihoods with it.

Chris Unrau learned early in his agricultural career that water management was crucial to thriving and surviving and that eventually led him to start Precision Land Solutions (PLS) where he is CEO. It was his way of contributing to increasing farm efficiency in the region and now throughout western Canada.

The beginning of the story of PLS goes back to 1996, ten years before it even existed. Unrau, young and fresh out of the University of Manitoba with his diploma in agriculture, started a job with Kroeker Farms and moved to the area with his wife Charlotte.

“I had worked for 10 years for Kroeker Farms in various roles there,” says Unrau. “Including some management

roles - farm management, and project management. One of the things that I was tasked with was to learn water management.”

With a passion for new ideas and pushing the envelope, Unrau took to water management like a duck takes to… well you know…he thrived.

It was a time when farms in southern Manitoba had weathered several years of disastrous wet seasons. There was significant flooding and massive losses. No one in Manitoba was really working on water management through the installation of drain tile but Kroeker Farms needed a solution and Unrau set about trying to find one.

“There were guys in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa all putting in this drain tile and we were trying to figure out how to mitigate these enormous losses that we were having on the farm,” Unrau said. “We had potatoes drowning out all the time and it was just absolutely disastrous. I took the lead on it, we bought equipment from southern Ontario and we brought it out here. I attended just about every tile school I could possibly find in North America and connected with extension agents and researchers and basically, we just

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ISION

DIGGI NG FOR

15 YEARS

UTIONS

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life in the valley

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learned by doing. In 1998, we started installing tile for Kroeker Farms on their main farm and we started seeing results.”

After 10 successful years with Kroeker Farms, Unrau decided the time was right to step out on his own and start PLS. “I had always wanted to be my own boss and one day, I found out about a machine that was for sale. My wife was eight and a half months pregnant with our fourth child, and I came home with this wacky idea one day that maybe I should quit my job and we should buy this machine.”

Unrau’s story is the story of the Pembina Valley in many ways.

Businesses here tend to mentor and foster the development of their staff to a point where they move on and start their own. It’s a cycle that has led to tremendous economic growth and success throughout the region and Unrau’s experience with Kroeker Farms has been a part of that.

Of course, another part of his story that will ring true to others are the obstacles he faced setting up PLS. “This just shouldn’t have worked,” he said. “We had no money. We had to cobble together every spare dollar we could. We had to go leverage that as high as we possibly could leverage it and then we still had to get the seller of this machine to finance us. We jumped into this thing with nothing but hard work and dedication. The good thing was, I already had existing relationships with most of the people who were needing the service, so for me,

it was pretty seamless to just to slide over from being a colleague to being a supplier.”

What drives a person to leave a successful career and strike out on their own with a new baby on the way?

Why not play it safe and not take on all of that risk?

For Unrau it was an opportunity to have an impact on people.

“It’s an industry and a product that really changes lives,” he said. “I saw it firsthand that I had crops that failed when I worked for Kroeker Farms and when we started tiling, we started seeing results where we weren’t losing crops. We weren’t having those crop failures in those disastrous years.

When you see something like this come along that can revolutionize farming, it’s good for the environment, it provides stability of income for farmers and it helps build rural economies well it’s quite motivating to do that.”

Being able to build something that changes people’s lives for the better and impacts the world in a positive way were all strong motives for Unrau and his wife but it was the challenge and faith that pushed the vision over the edge and kick started it into high gear.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” said Charlotte. “But just inside him, he had this desire to take on something big, a big challenge, you know an enormous goal.”

Unrau nods in agreement.

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“We started praying and it just shouldn’t work but we would pray for doors to open and the door would open,” Unrau said. “Then we would have to have the faith to walk through it. You keep going through that process and that’s the same process we’re actually going through right now. So, there’s definitely a faith journey involved as well.”

The creation of PLS meant that farmers didn’t have one more thing to have to figure out how to implement.

Farmers are notorious for having to learn how to do everything and Unrau felt that this was one area he and PLS could alleviate some of the pressure.

“If you were a farmer and you wanted to tile in Manitoba, you could only hire the plow that was it, you could hire a guy to come with a plow,” said Unrau. “You as the farmer had to go and buy the pipe, you had to get all your permits in place yourself, you had to get the pipe to the field, you had to get all the right fittings, you had to hire a guy with a backhoe to dig starter holes, you had to provide a man and a tractor to pull the stringer cart so there was no turnkey solution. So right off the hop, the principle of our business, which is built into our name is solutions.”

Things changed in 2008 when the global economic market crashed.

Suddenly supply chains began to dry up and the cost for drain tile skyrocketed as the price for the plastics used to make it rose. Faced with a growing obstacle Unrau did what Unrau does best – he went into problem solving mode and decided to by the equipment to make his own tile.

“Our business was growing, and our supplier couldn’t manufacture pipe fast enough for us,” Unrau recalled.

“In 2011 we started taking a look at what it would take to produce four-inch corrugated pipe to be able to supply our own needs and we bought a used manufacturing line out of Ohio and hired Garnet.”

The Garnet that Unrau references is Garnet Peters, the general manager of Accupipe, the subsidiary company that rose out of PLS. Nearly ten years into his career with Accupipe and PLS, Peters has become an indispensable part of the operation.

“His job was to get the plant up and running,” Unrau said of Peters’ work at Accupipe. “Garnet took the bull by the horns and got that project going and within three

months we were producing pipe. We cobbled this used equipment together and with some Mennonite ingenuity and a lot of hard work, we were making pipe in 2012 and it was a fantastic addition to our business.”

Impressed with Peters’ abilities and contributions Unrau invited him and his wife Tiffany into a partnership and sold a portion of the business to them. Peters’ work attracted the attention of some significant American businesses and it looked like things were set for smooth sailing.

Of course, life sometimes finds a way to disrupt things and that’s what happened for Unrau in 2013 when tragedy struck.

“I lost my brother and my nephew in a in a car accident,” Unrau said. “My dad was in the vehicle as well; he was hurt really bad. So, then you kind of take a step back and I immediately had to remove myself from our company operations so that I could deal with my family to help walk them through that journey. Garnet stepped out of Accupipe to run PLS.” Over time, Unrau was able to move back into his routine and now he and Peters are positioning themselves and the company for the future with some exciting, groundbreaking plans.

There are advantages to owning their own pipe manufacturer. PLS controls its own supply and does not have to worry as much about supply chain constraints, something that has become an industry-wide issue these days with Covid-19 wreaking havoc on the global economy.

Unfortunately, PLS doesn’t control the whole supply chain and the cost of materials to make pipe has become an obstacle but like any obstacle in its path in the past PLS has seen opportunity.

“In this whole pandemic, the plastic market being what it is, we are now going to be starting up a plastic grinding line,” said Peters. “So, we can take 45-gallon drums, sheet plastic or garbage cans, basically anything, like milk jugs, and we’ll be grinding plastic to use in our own manufacturing process and sell to other people.”

By grinding their own plastic, PLS enters into the realm of recycling further adding to what is already a business that has positive environmental impact through water management. It will also allow PLS to better manage

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their prices and supply which translates to happy customers.

“We’re very conscious of what we’re putting into our pipe,” said Peters. “We love the story of agricultural recycling; we’re working with a guy in Alberta right now who only recycles grain bags. We’re buying a percentage of that, putting it back into our pipe. It’s ag plastic going back into ag. We’re trying to be good stewards.”

The plan is to start grinding recycled plastic in the new year. A new product not only helps divert plastic waste from landfills, it means new jobs which is good for the region and once again the future looks bright for PLS. In the meantime, Unrau and his wife have begun to think about their own future but of course it’s no surprise that he already has his next step in mind that he’s keeping quiet for a little longer.

“We knew at some point it would need to transition to someone else’s leadership,” said Unrau. “Based on everything that’s going on within our companies and with where Garnet is at and with where staff are at, a very logical next step is to transition leadership to him.”

What this means is that in October Garnet Peters takes over PLS and AccuPipe as CEO and AccuPipe employee Richard Redekop will move into Peters’ former role as general manager.

“It’s a really exciting time for us to see this next phase of what is in store for our companies,” said Unrau who noted he is looking forward to what’s next. “My job is done. I’m the starter, I’m the one that has the vision to get these kinds of things up and running. Garnet and his skills and his ability is far more suited than me to take this thing to the next level.”

For Unrau, the journey has been one that couldn’t have been done without the employees and clients. It’s a journey that started with Unrau and his wife working out of their house, to today with PLS employing 40 people and operating 44,000 square feet of facility across two locations. For Peters, well he’s ready to move forward.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “There’s a big need out there and we’re ready to meet it.”

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It’s Time to Remember our Foundation No matter what you build, no matter how well you build it, and no matter how strong the materials and clever the design, it all comes back to the foundation. Without a strong foundation your structure will eventually collapse in on itself.

Foundations are not just critical for structures like homes, factories and office buildings, but also for the less tangible things: families, teams, workforces, and communities.

A strong foundation goes almost completely unnoticed during the good times. It sits hidden silently beneath it all quietly doing its job and holding everything up. It is when times get rocky that people become aware of the presence and strength of the foundation.

When the flood waters rise, when the winds pick up, when the heaviest of snows fall, we look to and trust in the foundation.

You might have noticed that things have been a bit rough lately in that structure we call the communities of Winkler and the Pembina Valley.

Division has arisen splitting families and friends down the middle. Loud and angry voices have become more dominant as the more peaceful of us seek to sink into the background and avoid the conflict. Sadly, even physical violence has occurred during these difficult days.

As we become isolated, things like social media can act as a megaphone making what should be small and insignificant expressions of hate and distrust seem much louder and more powerful than they really are.

In such times, people rally around the loudest voices, even if those voices are destructive and divisive because this is what people do when they are afraid.

It is during these times that we need to resist the temptation toward fragmentation and brokenness and consider the foundation of the communities where we live and work.

When people who have deeply held convictions disagree with one another, things can get a little tense. Add to this a tendency towards a history of pacifism and non-violence and something of a pressure cooker environment can build. This is where we are at. Rather than communicating, we are yelling. Instead of acknowledging, we are assuming. And in the turmoil and tumult, we have lost sight of each other and the values that connect us.

Now would be a good time to look closer at the foundations upon which our families, workplaces, houses of worship, and communities are built.

Winkler was founded in 1892 (and incorporated in 1906) by entrepreneur Mordenite Valentine Winkler, who wanted to better serve the local Mennonite communities. From the very beginning you see a connection between Winkler and Morden and the local Mennonite settlements. This is part of our foundation – a history of communities founded on generosity, recognizing mutual needs and seeking to meet those needs.

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The local Mennonite communities were made up of people who came to Canada to escape an oppressive regime in Russia; initially at the end of the 19th century. They came with deeply held faith-based beliefs and convictions that centred on peace, non-violence (both physical and social), compassion, love and grace and they came with a strong sense of the importance of a strong and united community. This is another part of our local foundation.

It was these attributes that led our communities and region to prosper and grow. It was this history of having been persecuted and dispossessed that led the region to look outside of itself and welcome new and diverse cultures in through immigration to help meet the demands this growth brought.

The sentiment was - come, work hard, and help us build this community regardless of who you are and what you believe so long as you believe in the power of community; we will find strength in our differences as we seek to understand one another.

This outreach too is another part of our foundation.

During these days of division, it is important to remember the foundations we stand upon. All of us, regardless of what we believe, have strong convictions and a mutual history that have led us to where we are at today and the positions we are holding to.

Our history shows that regardless of how deep our differences of opinion run - anger, hate, and violence, have no place in our communities unless we choose to give them that place.

The Oxford dictionary defines mercy as follows: “Compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”

This is a good definition because it essentially says we have the power to have mercy on everyone because it is within our power to harm everyone, either through our words or our actions.

Who is your neighbour during this difficult time?

Is it only the person who agrees with you? Is it only the like-minded?

There is too much that binds us together to allow division to destroy the strong foundations that our communities have stood upon for well over 100 years. We must be able to hold our convictions, however different, and still be capable of expressing love for one-another.

We must still be able to have compassion and communicate regardless of our beliefs. This is our mutual heritage.

It is true that damage has been done and when this storm passes (as all storms do) we will venture out and take stock of our circumstance. But in the midst of the chaos strewn about, it will be together that we clean up the broken shutters that have been blown from windows, and together that we right the silos that have tipped.

We will do these things and more and we will do it together because the foundation will remain strong.

Let’s get back to that

Ultimately, the binding agent that runs through all of the ingredients that make up our foundations is love – love for one another, love for our neighbours - unconditional love. This love does not depend on being loved in return. This love does not depend on sharing the same belief or opinion about a particular matter. This love answers the question of “who is my neighbour?” by saying “those who you would have mercy on”.

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Winkler is a great place to live. It’s a

place where you know your neighbours. It’s

a place where people look out for each

other. It’s a place where people extend each other grace.

Let 's Get Back to T hat

WINKLER Winkler is battered and bruised and maybe even a little broken right now. We’re making news headlines for all the wrong reasons - although it usually takes a wrong reason to make a headline anyway. Regardless of where we stand on the myriad of complex issues facing us, this isn’t good. We’ve lost our footing and we’re collectively stumbling around. It’s no secret, we’re pretty divided. We can’t rationalize or reason with “the other side”. It seems like an unbridgeable gap. But is it really? What would it take to find that sacred common ground where we can heal the divisions and span the divide? We’re well over a year and a half into this nightmare we call a pandemic, and our second Remembrance Day of this experience is quickly approaching. It should give us pause to think about how the men and women who fought and gave their all for our freedom would think about our place in history. Just the remembrance of the sacrifice of many isn’t enough - there is within the Remembrance Day story an astonishing example of how enemies can behave as friends - the Christmas Truce of 1914.

The First Great War had only been raging for a few months, but life in the trenches had become a cold, wet, and dull misery. Even though no one really knows how or why, the Christmas truce broke out relatively evenly across the front, and about 2/3 of the troops were believed to have participated. It was simple and peaceful, as soldiers laid down their arms and exchanged shouts for the harmony of carols. As the ceasefire continued, soldiers came out of their trenches, exchanged simple gifts of cigarettes and food, and even gave each other space to bury their dead that had been lying unreachable for weeks between the opposing sides. Some accounts

speak of soldiers getting a barbershop cut by someone from the side, a community pig roast, and even some friendly and competitive games of soccer with makeshift soccer balls. For this brief moment in time, these bitter enemies put down their differences, and came together for what they shared in common - the desire for peace.

We have an opportunity to put our differences aside and strike a truce. We can choose to firmly plant our stake in the ground, immovable, and unshakeable, and prepare to die on our hill. Or we can let our differences be, just let them exist, and move on ahead of them. We can choose to overlook the speck in our neighbours eye, to accept them for their faulty (to our view) logic, and to love them for the broken vessel they are recognizing that we ourselves are broken as well.

We can look for the things we share, that we love in common, and that we treasure. The practice of acceptance has life-giving applications.

Committing to a marriage relationship is for some of us the first real eye-opening lesson in acceptance. Many of us learn the hard way, that accepting the blemishes of another person is the gateway to the human relationship and intimacy that we so strongly desire. Without the acceptance of the things that irritate, we just can’t get our budding romance to establish, grow, and flourish. It takes persistent dedication to letting those annoyances slide, and a focus on the beautiful things we treasure. With any relationship, whether it’s in marriage or friendship, it can be tempting to let the little things irritate us.

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R PROUD Laundry gets left on the floor. Dishes on the counter. The remote goes missing, toilet seats get left up, and offensive odours present with most unfortunate timing. All in all, these little annoyances can grow in our mind and impact other areas of our relationships. Guiding them gently or just outright accepting them as what they are, minor annoyances, will allow us to reap the greater reward of a fulfilling companionship and the companionship we need at our core. But by choosing to allow them to divide us, and by allowing them to take up so much space in our heads, we shortchange ourselves in the long run.

We need to get back to accepting each other unconditionally, loving each other fully, and looking beyond the little things that get between us.

Acceptance is also the key to other relationships that are important to us, whether they are with neighbours, mothers-in-law, or even our own selves. We just can’t get these things to go and to grow if we won’t accept what we cannot change.

Quite simply put, we need get back to playing on the same team. We can disagree with our teammates, maybe even gently challenge the play, but we have to shoot at the same goal.

If we could peel back the paint that has been applied with the common brush, you’d find that Winkler is not just unique, it’s a special place. And it’s not the location or businesses make it special, it’s the culture of its people as a whole. Winkler

isn’t perfect, its people aren’t perfect. There are many faults, and we who consider ourselves Winklerites are all broken pots. We suck at a lot of things, we struggle with many more. But we bring together a collective of people who drive hard to make a difference. People who truly care for their fellow person, giving unselfishly to pull them up out of despair. People who band together to give, to serve, to cheer, and to help. It’s a culture of people who don’t wait on government to give a hand up, they just buckle down and do it. There may not be another place in this country that has the kind of collaboration between businesses and people that work together for mutual benefit.

We rise together, fall together, and figure out how to live together. But aside from the genuine core of people who really care, really want to make this world a better place, there is much to love about Winkler. Our drivers could put on a clinic in passive-aggressive maneuvers that would give the rickshaw drivers of Calcutta a run for their money.

We enjoy some of life’s most simple pleasures, like k’nacking our zotes, k’nipsing our crokinoles, k’ruising our Main Street. We’ve stretched out open arms to immigrants from all corners of the earth, a wide variety of cultures and people groups. We’re not perfect and we’re not trying to be, we are just Winkler, and we’re OK. I’m proud to be from Winkler, and proud to join with many other who see a bright future here. It’s full of talented, smart, and generous loving people.

LET’S GET BACK TO THAT life in the valley

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Strokes of Genius Along with a fresh coat of paint on your walls and perhaps some new sheets, towels, or cushions, you’ve decided to give your ceilings a little love. Ceilings are often forgotten, ignored or neglected because of the attitude that white goes with everything or because the task of painting a ceiling is too daunting…or the ceiling has been textured or stippled and is therefore thought to be untouchable. In taking on the project of painting your ceiling, you’ll need to consider colour and sheen as well as application.

Janzen’s Paint & Decorating Ltd. can help you get the results you are looking for with our premium Benjamin Moore paint.

In determining the look you want for your ceiling, also consider the sheen of the paint you choose. A matte paint, such as Benjamin Moore's ceiling paint, will be the most amenable to a DIYer and to the substrate. A matte finish will greatly reduce glare and disguise imperfections in mudding and repairs. Matte finishes also touch up beautifully. If your situation requires regular wiping or gentle washing, an eggshell sheen on the ceiling is a good option as reflection is low and nap or overlap lines are still possible to avoid. For an eggshell sheen consider using Benjamin Moore's Regal or Ben for the results you are looking for.

When choosing a colour, would you prefer a crisp white that will reflect the most light or a softer white that would be less glaring? Would you like to use a lighter shade of the wall colour on the ceilings, which will bring a harmonizing seamlessness to the look? Or would you like to add drama to the space in an unexpected way by painting a ceiling with a bold colour?

For assistance in choosing the right paint for your ceilings as well as tools and painting tips, consult the staff at Janzen’s Paint & Decorating Ltd. Certain situations will require primer, adjustable extension poles to ease reach, roller refills with thicker naps to get paint onto textured surface, spray texture to patch existing stippling and so on. Partner with a friend and your ceiling will be done in good time!

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HAU LI NG FOR 25 YEARS H

ard work will teach a person a lot of things. For Dave Wolfe, it’s that being true to your word, under-promising, and over-delivering is the key to success.

himself watching his dad fix things in the garage.

As he got older, any spare minute before or after school he was working in the garage on an engine or machine.

And it’s served him well for over two decades at the multi-faceted Wolfe Enterprises in Morden

He also saw the price of being your own boss first hand as his dad operated the shop on their yard.

Like many entrepreneurs, Dave Wolfe could never seem to shake the desire to be his own boss.

“The weekends are not yours, not every evening is yours, that’s what makes it hard,” he says. “But if that’s what you are, that’s what you are, it’s what we do. You still take time for yourself, but you always stayed near the phone, you never know when someone needs their truck fixed or tire changed.”

The irony, as every entrepreneur knows, is a business owner simultaneously has dozens of bosses, from every customer and client to the pressure of providing meaningful, consistent work for each employee, and keeping each business partner happy and confident in the trajectory of the enterprise.

But that’s ok.

Because Dave explains he learned the key to success early on.

For Dave it all began when he was “old enough for mom to tell us to go play outside” and he found

life in the valley

As he grew up, Dave got out of the mechanic business and into long-haul trucking. For nearly two decades he made his living on the road before a friend offered to sell him his yard and gravel truck.

He thought it would make a great side business and would keep his mind busy while he was driving.

Trucking would still be his “bread and butter” but this would be a great way to supplement their income.

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The business became a family venture in 1999 when his son-in-law Bevin and son Rod stepped in, though Rod had been working for his dad since high school.

In fact, Rod brought his management and accounting know-how to the business.

“I always did the numbers side of things, growing up I helped dad with his books… I’ve always been interested in business and learned being busy doesn’t necessarily make you successful, being profitable makes you successful. And those are two different things. When you can learn that at an early age, you’re off to a good start, you have to make smart decisions and take advantage of growth opportunity when it presents itself.”

Shortly after the sons officially joined the business, they would face its first major challenge, and opportunity. The long-haul industry as a whole was becoming less lucrative, but the pieces were falling into place to expand into the gravel industry.

However, the industry is notoriously difficult to break into, Dave explains. The gravel business has often been generational, with the equipment and contracts moving from grandfather, to father, to son.

“To start from scratch is humbling, it’s very gradual growth.”

The shift also revealed another less glamorous side of being your own boss... going without a paycheque.

“Everybody always says, “you are your own boss, you must get to do whatever you want to,” but oftentimes you start out with no paycheques, your employees are relying on you, so you’re often the last one to get paid. You’ll miss a paycheque here and there, you don’t like it, but you do whatever it takes,” Dave says.

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Despite the challenges, Wolfe Enterprises continued to grow.

Now, just over 25 years later the company has grown from two employees to two dozen.

What began with long-haul trucking has now shifted to gravel hauling, heavy duty truck and trailer parts and service, and joint ventures in gravel crushing and earth work services.

The business lesson from 25 years of experience?

Take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

But that also doesn’t mean growth is all about leaps and bounds. Instead, Dave says, “it’s always been about slow and steady growth.”

When another gravel company in Morden was retiring, Wolfe Enterprises took the plunge and bought up the assets, and grew their customer base at the same time. This was the result of waiting for the right opportunity and responding to it.

same drive to be his own boss, but he just needed some help. Together they helped launch a gravel crushing business, that naturally paired well with their core business.

“He makes the gravel, we haul the gravel, so we have a good business relationship, again taking advantage of an opportunity and making the most of it,” Rod explains.

A few years later, the Wolfe’s are at it again, this time helping another entrepreneur launch an earthworks business, which has become one of the most successful excavation companies in the area.

“We helped them start their businesses, and between the three of us together, we would probably be the industry leader at what we do, which is pretty cool because we did that from scratch,” Rod says.

Again, it came down to doing the right things or choosing the right people to partner with. It’s why they branched out with the other companies when they did.

Opportunities he adds, aren’t always easy to spot either. It was an injury to his elbow that forced Dave out of the trucker’s seat and forced him to pivot to find new revenue streams.

That’s when he returned to where it all started, offering heavy-duty truck parts and service.

Around the same time, they saw an opportunity to partner with another local entrepreneur with the

“We saw these young ambitious guys that we felt were the best at what they do. Just like us, they want to be the best, we don’t want to be mediocre at a lot of things, we want to be the best at what we know.”

While it took enormous amounts of work, Rod and his dad still give credit to the simple business philosophy, “you have to provide good service.”

“The phone is on, that’s important. If we wanted

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to reach our goals, we couldn’t be eight to five, if we were, we would have missed opportunities and wouldn’t be in the place we are today.”

Whether it’s trucking goods or fixing machinery, you have to make sure people are happy with the results.

And that means making yourself available to get jobs done in a timely manner, communicating with customers, being forthcoming and honest.

“It seems pretty basic, because it is,” Rod says. “Dad learned it at a young age and passed it on to me. Take care of people, and do it for the right reasons.

Sometimes it’s putting yourself second to the needs of others.”

grow certain aspects of the business,” Dave says.

Again, a classic Pembina Valley business leader, he retired once before... but it didn’t stick. Covid put a kink in Dave’s plans to become a snow bird. In fall of 2019, he and his wife sold their house to buy an RV and head south. It didn’t take long before he was back at the shop to fill a position. As he still hopes to get back to his pre-covid plans, those have been put on hold as the service shop is experiencing new growth and they need all the help they can get.

Rod adds they’re at a place now where they can be more intentional about balancing their hobbies and family time with work.

It has all added together to create a picture of a family business that’s grown steadily, at the right time, and with the right people.

“You want to enjoy family and take up hobbies, but also look back and appreciate what you’ve accomplished.”

The support of business partners is great to have. They are always available to bounce ideas off of, but at the end of the day, they run their business and we run ours “it’s their ship to steer.”

One of their recent accomplishments was being a finalist for the Morden Chamber of Commerce awards back in 2018. It was a moment to reflect not just on their business and the culture they’ve cultivated, but also on the community that has always been there for them.

The support of great staff is equally important “we believe it comes down to getting the right people in the right spot and just allowing them to do their job. If you don’t trust them, they won’t grow.”

“If you don’t put faith and confidence in people, your business isn’t going to grow either.”

And Wolfe Enterprises has seen a lot of growth.

“Dad always taught me to work yourself out of a job.

You do your job until you teach or find someone that can do it better, and you move on to the next thing.”

“It’s been an incredible area to grow a business, even when there were a lot of companies like ours.

It still allowed for us to have a place, and since we’ve done it, there’s been more behind us. So, it continues, you know, everybody’s kind of got their key market within that.”

In these uncertain times, the Wolfe’s stand behind the basics of success in business: stay true to your word, be eager to serve, bring in good people and get out of their way, and always be ready to pursue new opportunities.

Looking to the future, Rod says they’ve reached a level of comfort “where we feel things are sustainable. We don’t want to force growth outside of our current economic environment.”

“If we can just do everything we’re doing, but do it even better, and continue to find the right people to life in the valley

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M O N E Y

M A T T E R S

THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN YOURSELF IS NOW

Whether saving short-term to reward yourself with a small home renovation, new car, or staycation or long-term for retirement, travel, or a new home, your future happiness depends on the decisions you make today.

It’s time to tuck away the past and look to the future, and the only constant in that future is you. You deserve to be happy, and that’s why you need to set goals to invest in your future happiness.

No matter how big or small your goals, everyone has to start saving sometime—and today is the best day to do it.

Savings are something that grows, but nothing can grow until you plant the seed.

Every little bit counts. Even saving just $50 a paycheck adds up to $1200 annually. Add interest and before you know it, you have enough for a down payment on a car.

Need a little help getting started?

Here are some quick ways to get going.

FIND MONEY TO SAVE MONEY Small changes can add up to big savings. Here are some ways you could find a bit of extra cash to stow away for your future investment (whatever it may be): Bundle service fees: Many people don’t know that some service providers will allow you to bundle services for a discount. For example, some phone or internet providers will let you bundle cell and landlines with cable and internet for package savings.

Reduce expenditures: Reduce your water, heat, and electricity consumption to reduce monthly expenses.

For example, put a filter on your kitchen tap instead of buying bottled water and set your thermostat lower or higher (depending on the time of year) when you’re away from the house.

Another great way to reduce fees is to make sure you’re in the right chequing account for you. Look at your monthly fees and talk to your local branch about making sure that the package you’re in makes sense for your usage.

Shop the flyers and/or go consignment: Know your prices, shop seasonally, and follow the deals. TIP: Sign up for a flyer app (like Flipp) instead of getting paper flyers— you receive flyers instantly, can add deals directly to your

shopping list, and digital flyers are also more environmentally conscious.

You can also shop consignment such as garage sales, local buy-and-sell channels, and Facebook Marketplace— especially for items that you only use for a short time, such as kids’ clothes, toys, etc.

FIND THE RIGHT PRODUCT Short-term saving The best short-term savings products don’t lock your funds in for a predetermined period of time. Such as: Variable Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA): Contributions to TFSAs are not tax-deductible and any money deposited—as well as any income earned in the account—is tax-free for life, even when it is withdrawn.

Premium Savings account: Exclusive to Access Credit Union, the Premium Savings account offers the flexibility of a basic savings account plus high returns on deposits.

Long-term saving Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP): Contributions are tax-deductible, and interest earned is tax-free until you make a withdrawal from the account.

GIC (or term deposit): A Guaranteed Investment Certificate is a secure, low-risk investment product with a guaranteed rate of return over a fixed period.

Looking to get into investments? There are many options for investing today. Whether you want to manage your own portfolio with DIY investing through virtualwealth, or work with an advisor to get the most bang for your buck, your future is in your hands.

Access Credit Union has the tools you need to start investing in you. Talk to your local branch or call our Member Solutions Centre to find out how you can start investing in you today.

Invest in you.

Investment options to get you where you want to be.

ACCESS

C R E D I T

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U N I O N

Message to the Community Someone needs to stand up for this community as we are being driven increasingly further apart. This problem has seemingly become magnified over the last few weeks. As the Chief of Police, I try to stay neutral but I think the situation has escalated to the point where I cannot stay silent any longer.

us – it is foolish to believe that there could never be a circumstance where the government could not restrict what we do. That doesn’t even make sense, of course, they can – desperate times call for desperate measures.

We already live with laws that restrict what we can do.

Covid restrictions are intended to protect not punish.

Something has to change. The anger and resentment that we are seeing in our community are unacceptable.

We are better than this. This great community did not become great by acting the way we currently are. We are allowed to have different opinions but we should not let them divide us. I am seeing anger towards store staff who are only trying to do their job reminding customers to wear masks; anger towards business owners who are trying to follow the health orders; anger towards businesses that are not following the health orders; anger towards people who are vaccinated and towards those who are not vaccinated; and anger towards enforcement personnel, whether it be Winkler Police officers or Public Health officials, who are doing their jobs. Our individual rights do not trump the rights of store owners.

For those of you that decide to go about life as usual and not follow the health orders, you are taking the risk of receiving a ticket. If you do receive a ticket do not be surprised and do not get angry – that is a consequence of the risk you took. You were well aware of the consequences when you made your decision not to follow the health order. Accept the ticket, you always have the option of contesting the ticket in court – that is your right. It is concerning to realize that drug traffickers and career criminals are more respectful to law enforcement than people who decide not to wear a mask.

To get mad at the young staff members is just…well it’s just ridiculous. I don’t think that is what Jesus would do. Our rights here in Canada can in fact be limited – it is written right into the first section of the Charter.

The government can certainly impose restrictions on

This pandemic is real – whether you believe it or not.

Our generation has seen more opportunity, peace, and prosperity than many of the generations before us. We have become accustomed to the freedom we have had during these peaceful times. However, that time is not now and some of us don’t want to accept it – some of us are neglecting our new responsibilities under these adverse conditions. We have become an entitled society that cannot handle the fact that we do not currently have the same freedoms we have become accustomed to.

There’s a local social media group that claims to be stopping the division by making Winkler a place where everyone can decide what they want to do – “freedom of choice” they say without considering those who are affected by their non-compliance. That group, or maybe more specifically the spokesperson for that group, is only adding to the division. Referring to people as “ignorant” on social media or driving around town with a life-size stuffed toy sheep wearing a mask in the passenger seat does not help to bring the community together. I assume the intent of this display is to classify those who wear masks and obey the health orders as sheep or followers. How does that bring us closer together?

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Furthermore, the idea that is being promoted within this group to gather people together and confront enforcement officials while they check compliance or issue tickets is misguided and does nothing to bring our community together. There is a large segment of the population that wants to follow the health orders and expect others to follow them as well. There are businesses doing the right thing and following the health orders. It would not be fair to those who comply to not enforce these restrictions. This idea to confront enforcement officials is completely ridiculous. I know they say they want to be peaceful and passive in their response but I do not believe that is their intent. If they are going to be peaceful and passive then it will have no effect on enforcement and therefore, I suspect they will not stop there. If they try to hinder enforcement officials in any way – even just by restricting their movement - those involved would still be arrested for obstructing a peace officer.

If they touch or threaten enforcement officials, they will be arrested for assaulting a peace officer. I would advise against taking part in this activity and I would also point out to the person suggesting this that they themselves could be arrested for counselling to commit a crime. Anyone choosing to participate will be held accountable for their actions and will be required to

justify their actions in criminal court.

Overall, the animosity in this community that has emerged during this pandemic has been crippling to our integrity. The best way to get past this difficult time is to follow the Public Health Order. I am vaccinated and I encourage everyone to be so that we can get through this sooner than later. I also realize that taking the vaccine is a decision not to be taken lightly and therefore I will not villainize those who hold a different opinion.

Chief Ryan Hunt

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HOMET SERVICE It’s 1955 and Elvis Presley makes his television debut, the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup for the seventh time in their history, Louis St. Laurent is Prime Minister of Canada, Disney releases Lady and the Tramp, Ford Motor Company introduces the new Thunderbird and Fairlane and John P. Hamm starts selling them at the new Hometown Service in Winkler.

It’s been 66 years and Hometown Service continues the family tradition down to the fourth generation started by Hamm

and his sons John and Cornie, along with son-in-law Abe Derksen. When they started, Ford Motor Company was just 52 years old (it’s now 118 and still going strong).

The story of how Hometown started is both unique and familiar. It is familiar because like some other longstanding businesses in Winkler, the foundation goes back to family and community. The unique part – well you’ll have to read it and judge for yourselves.

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TOWN Serving FOR

65 years life in the valley

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We have to go all the way back to the 1940s and what used to be the village of Kronsgart, Manitoba (about 18 km north and a little east of Winkler) near where Road 17W meets Road 19N where John Hamm had a repair and oil business.

John started out as a blacksmith working on equipment and repairing parts. The family has memories of an old windmill that he used to use to charge batteries since there was no hydro on the yard in those days.

“These would smell like acid because these batteries were probably overcharging from the windmill,” recollected Alvin Derksen, the elder family statesman still working at Hometown after five decades.

John Sr., along with John Jr., Cornie, and Abe started the Ford dealership in Winkler following the Wonnick Brothers closure. This required them to pack into an unheated Volkswagen Beetle and make the cold January journey to Winnipeg to sign the papers with Ford Motor Company.

Not wanting to drive up to the Ford office in a Volkswagen, the near frozen men parked out of sight and walked the rest of the way to complete the deal.

John P Hamm’s dream was that his boys would work at Hometown, and in fact at some point all of his boys did. Henry, Peter, John, Cornie and Walter all worked in different positions at Hometown over the years.

The original location was actually on Mountain Avenue in downtown Winkler, where the Access Credit Union parking lot sits today. It remained there until 1976 when it and its then 10 employees (today there are 30) moved to the current location at 690 Memorial Drive. After nearly 30 years the business had again outgrown the facility and in 2004 the building was expanded and reconstructed. Ford recently introduced a new facility image standard and after almost a year of construction the dealership is now the 2nd Ford store in Manitoba with the new Ford global design. The most recent renovation included the addition of a Celebration Bay, where customers can take delivery of their newly purchased vehicle inside a clean and quiet bay, instead of outside when weather conditions are less than ideal.

Throughout the decades the business catered to the needs of the region selling Fordson tractors until the 60s, using an old army truck to tow vehicles and serving as a Texaco gas station for awhile too.

In 1967, John Sr. passed away and the ownership passed along to John Jr., Cornie and son-in-law Abe Derksen. Eventually John Jr. and Cornie sold their shares to Abe in 1974 and the business continues in the family to this day with Alvin, Bob, Ron, Brian, Carl and Heather all actively involved in the business.

Dennis recently retired after 47 years at the parts counter.

Of course, while family is the foundation of the business, Hometown would not be where it is today without a host of incredible, and hard-working employees, a number of whom have worked alongside the family for more than 30 years – something they are all incredibly grateful for.

Along with dedicated employees of course a business cannot celebrate 65 years without some deep customer loyalty. Just as the Hometown family is now four generations deep, they have customers that are also second and third generation.

“These people had a choice to go wherever they wanted,” said Bob, “but they liked our service and the relationships that their parents came here for.”

Alvin recalls a story that his dad has told of a customer who hitchhiked all the way from Alberta to buy a car at Hometown. This gentleman was a previous Hometown customer and didn’t know who he could trust in Alberta, so he made the decision to hitchhike back to Winkler where he knew he’d get a fair deal!

When a customer comes into the business, they may have an idea of what they are looking for but usually they need the expertise and knowledge that comes with decades of experience. From time-totime conversation may turn to the favorite car. This begs the question – if you could own just one car for the rest of your life what would it be. Silence. It turns out, this is a difficult question. Afterall there are a lot of options to choose from. Everyone agrees it would be a Ford but that’s where the similarities end. After some thought Bob answers first.

“I would like to have my first car back,” he said.

“The more I think about it the more sure I am of that.

It was a dark green 1968 Mustang. It wasn’t the most collectible car or the most powerful car, but it was my

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first car with lots of great memories. In fact I still have a hub cap from the car hanging on a wall in my office.”

Alvin is a little more specific. “A 1932 Ford Roadster would probably be on my bucket list,” he said. “It was Ford’s first V8.”

“I'm gonna go 1965 Shelby GT 350,” said Carl.

“If money wasn’t a limit, I’d probably have one right now.” Now the ideas start coming quickly – “I would like a late 1960’s Mustang with a big block engine” said Ron “I would have to say a new Ford GT,” adds Brian.

“Oh yeah. Nice.” After a few minutes Heather chimes in confidently – “A late 1960s Mustang.

Probably a ‘68 Fastback” and when asked why she responds “Why wouldn’t you want one?” Alvin jokes that she probably wants the 8-track player that came with it and laughter rings out all around.

This is one of the key differences here at Hometown. There is a deep level of comfort and camaraderie that only come with a close, tightknit family. Family is important to them all and it’s one of the things brought up when asked about what they value most about Ford.

“I wouldn't have to think too long on that one,” said Bob. “It’s because of the family, the family aspect of Ford. This is kind of interesting but 40% of the voting shares of Ford Motor Company today are still controlled by the Ford family.”

Working with family comes with unique challenges. Brian mentions how they have to be more thoughtful in how they deal with one another because they will see each other at the

dinner table and family gatherings. “I think you work more when you work for family,” said Carl.

There is nodded agreement to this sentiment although they all agree that even though the work hat comes off at the end of the day, they’ll still find themselves chatting about cars and the industry because it’s the space they’re in and interested in and it’s a space that Hometown Service has watched change over the decades.

“If you go back to 50s and 60s,” said Alvin, “there wasn't a lot of inventory around and factory ordering was fairly common but then in the 70s and 80s that's when inventory started to grow because people wanted the cars almost instantly.”

It’s one of the observations you don’t expect from someone in the car sales industry but it makes sense.

Decades of working with people have given Alvin and Hometown insight into how people have changed with the emergence of things like instant gratification and the industry’s need to adapt.

“Electronics just changed everything,” added Bob. “I remember when we got our first computer and there was a debate about getting it back in ’82 or ‘83. That one computer was worth about one person’s wage for a year. We debated about buying it, like is this where we want to go because it was a big overhead cost but we decided that we should get a computer because it looked like that's where things were going and we got it right.” Alvin talks a little about his brother Dennis, who just retired, as the go-to guy for the new technology.

“He probably spent the most time on that computer in the early years learning how to use it for parts inventory management and accounting.”

Whether it was electronics and computers being introduced into the business or becoming embedded in the cars and trucks as they are today there is strong agreement that the biggest change has been with computerization although the next big change for the industry is happening right

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR

65 YEARS OF BUSINESS

Wishing you continued success 220 Stephen St, Morden

204-822-6296

murraydodgeram.ca

Congratulations to ProTec would like to congratulate Hometown Ford on their recent addition and renovation. May it serve them well.

204-325-4595 595 George Ave. Winkler MB R6W 0J4

204-331-1336

ray@pioneerwooddesigns.ca

585 Cargill Road, Winkler

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now and likely will shape the company’s 100th anniversary in 34 years – a milestone everybody around the table wants to see happen. “Electric cars and autonomous driving,” said Alvin. “That’s where things are going.”

Hometown has an all electric 2021 Mustang Mach-E in stock now that Brian has been driving around to build familiarity. One thing is certain, while the classics hold a large place in their hearts the new electric vehicles have won them over in a big way.

“It's more fun to drive than you could imagine,” he said.

“That electric car is very fun to drive and on the efficiency side is just as impressive. It does not have to build RPM to make power. It has 100% of its torque instantly.”

Hometown has been selling hybrid gas/electric vehicles since 2009 but the fully electric cars and trucks that are coming are industry game changers and the future of Ford. The Canadian government has

recently mandated that by 2035 all new vehicles sold are to be zero emissions. While this may seem like a stretch today, electric vehicles will no doubt become a large part of the market over the next 10-15 years.

In an area like Winkler and the surrounding region, fast growth means a lot of trades people and electric vehicles bring an advantage you might not think of – access to a phenomenal power plant. This is one of the reasons they’re excited for next years new, all electric Ford F-150 Lightning.

The F-150 Lightning clocks in at 563 horsepower, 775 lb.-ft. of near instantaneous torque – more than any F-150 ever – and a 0-60 mph time in the mid-4-second range with access to 9.6 kilowatts of power onboard with 110-volt and 220volt plugs.

“It’s like having a large generator with you wherever you go, you can run a whole job site,” said Brian. “That is super cool.”

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Congratulations on 65 years of business

Electric Ltd.

1-249 Manitoba Rd, Winkler MB 204.325.9571

CONGRATULATIONS

Metal Benders

You Can Count On 435 George Avenue, Winkler • Ph: 204-331-4179 • bendit.ca life in the valley

85

No matter what the future holds they all agree that one thing that will not change is the values that have come with being a part of a family-run business and that they will work to continue to reflect founder John Hamm’s values well into the future.

“A customer service emphasis was something that he was focused on in the beginning,” noted Bob highlighting an attribute that is still the most important to Hometown today.

Another value John Sr. instilled into the business was treating and using the tools of the trade properly.

Something most good craftspeople can relate to and another attribute that triggers a stream of memories.

“Yeah, I was 12 or 14 years old and I was using a hack saw one day in the shop,” recalls Alvin. “He (John Sr.) could hear it when he walked in the shop and he could tell that I wasn't using it right. He came over and he explained to me and he showed me how this tool was used properly. ‘Okay, this is the way you do it’, and I always remembered that. He would just step in and, not in a real critical way, and take time with you.”

After the story is told others recall similar experiences with Alvin and it illustrates how knowledge, passion and mentoring move through the generations and values continue to be instilled.

CONGRATULATIONS ON 65 YEARS OF BUSINESS

Happy to be a partner in your renovation project

WWW.REDRIVERGLASS.CA

204.324.6923

Congratulations on 65 years

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The Derksens are grateful for what John Sr. taught and also for the community they call home. Winkler, they relate, has a different kind of business community compared to many others.

“There's a lot of support here between different businesses,” said Alvin. “You don’t see that happen very often in the car industry.”

There is the story of a fire at one dealership where other businesses stepped up and offered their garages until the business got itself back up and running.

“We'll help each other out and that's quite unique about our business community. There's a lot of a community between businesses, especially between the Winkler auto dealers - we're competitors but we’re not enemies. We go for breakfast once a month and we talk about stuff and we do joint advertising and other things together, it's an awesome relationship that we have. In a lot of towns, they can't believe that competing auto dealers can actually work together the way we do.”

This is what doing business in Winkler brings to the table for the Derksens and Hometown Service – neighbourliness, community, compassion and support.

These are some of the values that they have come to cherish, values that John Sr. and the family have woven into the business over the past 66 years.

What about in 30-40 years? What do you want Hometown to look like then? The intent of the question is to talk more about technology and vehicles but Heather brings it all back to what matters most to them – “In 30-40 years, our values are still what they are now,” she said.

With the fifth generation now approaching school age it seems likely that these values will continue well into the future and the Pembina Valley will continue to be served by Hometown with the service and values people have come to expect.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR

65 YEARS OF BUSINESS

Wishing you continued success life in the valley

88

Congratulations to three generations of the derksen family on 65 successful years in the automotive inudstry!

248 Centre Ave E, Altona

204-324-6494

westparkgm.com

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Congrats on

65 years of business

MB-2, Treherne - (204) 723-2175

60 Main St, Altona - (204) 324-6474

CONGRATULATIONS on 65 years

485 Eastview Drive, Winkler, MB R6W 0K3 (204) 325-8852 life in the valley

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Thanks for including us in creating your beautiful new space.

May your reputation for excellence continue to grow.

Derek, Dustin and the WBS Team.

w b s c o n s t r u c t i o n

.

c o m

Bringing multi-industry experience to every client’s project.

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COWBOY CA Late summer and fall is canning season and this here is a go to recipe in our house. We use cowboy candy on burgers, hot dogs and pasta. We also like to can the left over brine (if there is any) and use it for many things such as grilled cheese. We will put a light coat on each side of the bread. It’s amazing. Drizzle the brine over chicken or simply add it to any pasta for a touch of kick.

Here is a link to a walk through video:

(We like to experiment with different amounts of garlic powder and pepper flakes etc. so don’t be alarmed if the video isn’t quite the same as this. Just have fun with it and make it your own).

https://youtu.be/H3FV1DVaNYU

Cowboy Candy: 3 lbs jalapeños chopped up in slices (1/4” thin) I leave seeds in, but you can take them out if you like.

Feel free to sub in sweet peppers if you don’t like heat. Any pepper will work.

We add cayenne and banana peppers to our batches as well.

Brine : (combine) 6 c sugar (white) 2 c apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp garlic powder 2 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tsp turmeric

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

Boil brine for 15 minutes in medium stock pot Add 3 lbs of jalapeños, turn to simmer, mix and cook for roughly 10 minutes Strain the jalapeños and place in canning jars Bring brine back to slow boil for roughly 5 minutes Add brine to jars leaving 1/2” headspace place lids on the jars and water bath for 25 - 30 minutes.

sponsored by

Derksen Finishing Co.

12 Hespeler Street S, Reinfeld • (204) 331-1742 • info@derksenfinishing.com

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ANDY

Taste Valley of the

Recipe created by Kevin Funk Instagram: @chefkevinfunk life in the valley

93

artic spas artic spas artic spas artic spas R O F artic spas G N I B B artic spas U T artic spas

s s s s s s s

Winter is coming.

Yes, that season that divides us. That season we love and hate. Winter is coming and with it many of us seek out the therapeutic warmth and comfort of a hot tub.

In the Pembina Valley, if you’re thinking about a hot tub, you will inevitably head over to the region’s only dedicated hot tub retailer Arctic Spas and talk to founder and owner Frank Loewen – he has quite the entrepreneurial story.

This year is the 10th anniversary of Arctic Spas (formerly Opulent Spas) and the journey has been one that many in the region can relate to – one of grassroots efforts starting small and growing to meet a need.

Loewen had bought and sold several businesses and had just completed his most recent sale which led him to ponder what was next for his business adventures. It was at this point he bought the existing hot tub rental business with one trailer.

“After doing it for a year I realized there’s got to be ways to make more money,” said Loewen. “I started with strategic advertising and it was then I realized how effective that was and it was then that I had to build another trailer.”

With having made this change, the business became significantly more profitable. Loewen bought and learned how to fix hot tubs as part of the ex-

pansion which led to the next stage in his growth.

Even with multiple trailers, Loewen felt there was still room for growth. It was then that he started buying used hot tubs and fixing them.

“I knew how they worked so I started actually buying frozen hot tubs and fixing them and reselling them,” Loewen said. “I’m a jack of all trades but master of none but I will always figure things out.”

After testing the waters of buying, fixing and selling broken hot tubs, it became evident to Loewen that he was on to something.

“I thought - this is kind of fun,” said Loewen who began to hunt for more and more opportunities to buy. “It was then that I negotiated with a dealer in Winnipeg who gave me discounts off of new hot tubs, and so I became a sub-dealer and entered the new hot tub market.”

After being a sub-dealer for about a year, he learned more about hot tubs and how they worked. He realized he needed to find something more appropriate for cold climates than what he was selling at that time.

Loewen quickly realized there was only one brand on the market that filled that need but he couldn’t sell that brand because another dealer had the rights to the entire province of Manitoba.

Loewen stopped selling for the sub-dealer and started ordering directly from the manufacturer and did that for another year taking advantage of his years as purchasing manager at General Metal Fabrication where he learned the skills to open and negotiate accounts with suppliers.

Loewen sold his first brand new hot tub to a local doctor in 2014 and never looked back.

Up until this time, Loewen was working out of his home by appointment only. As he began to get more serious, he started looking at

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other brands. He worked with Sunrise Spas out of Ontario, Coast Spas from British Columbia, and several others. As interest grew, it became clear that he had to move to a more professional setting.

“In January of 2015, I decided to rent a space,” Loewen said. “That was a huge step for me because now I have overhead. But I saw a huge growth that first year in 2015.”

“I went through several brands for a few years because I was learning,” said Loewen. “The more I learned about hot tubs, the more I strived to sell a product similar to Arctic spas, and the more I heard about how good their service was the more I wanted to be like them.”

In order to compete, Loewen amped up his commitment to clients and stood behind every product he sold. To this day, he will still service every hot tub he has sold even, if it is a line he has discontinued. If he sold it, he will service it. The customer is everything.

With the client-focused strategy paying off and word of mouth building sales, Loewen had to move into a new building. In 2016, he moved and hired his first full-time staff person.

The business had continued to grow. Then, without warning, the company he was representing pulled the plug on his distributor agreement refocusing on their Winnipeg dealers. Left with a new location, overhead, costs and staff, Loewen picked up the phone and started calling around.

Eventually he called Dimension One Spas in California.

“I called and said ‘You don’t have any dealers in this area, are you interested in having one?’ and they responded ‘Absolutely, we will actually pay for your trip to come into our factory’. They paid for flight, food, hotel, everything really. I jumped on a plane and toured the factory. Well, I asked them if they would mind if we took that same trip and toured the Cal Spas factory at the same time, we decided to take them both on - one as an entry level hot tub and one is a high end.”

With new stock in place, Loewen settled back into selling and supporting hot tubs in the region. By 2018, things had been going well. Then, opportunity knocked and Loewen was looking at a chance to fulfill a dream he had since he had started selling hot tubs.

“Out of the blue, the owner of Artic Spas Manitoba calls me,” said Loewen. “I’d like to have a meeting with you’, like, Whoa, boy, I was intimidated by him because he was the biggest and the best.”

“That was a big step and a little exciting and scary at the same time” said Loewen of having the responsibility to manage another person in the business. “That went from one person full-time to two people, to three people within a year.”

Loewen often reflects on why he became an entrepreneur and his answer may be surprising to some. It offers insight into the difference between the entrepreneur and the rest of us.

“I think to be an entrepreneur you have to be a little bit crazy,” he said with complete candor. “You take risks that not everyone would take. You don’t have to have a business degree to be an entrepreneur. There are certainly people smarter than me in my business but I take risks that most other people in my business will never take.”

Many entrepreneurs can relate to the reality of crisis moments in business. They come in many forms over the years and can become defining moments. These are the “do-or-die” moments when the owner is faced with what feels like an insurmountable barrier. For Loewen, one of those came in summer of 2017.

Loewen reflects that his competitor was looking to retire. He wanted to discuss selling his business and his Arctic Spas rights to Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario to someone worthy of taking over his legacy and the brand he had spent years building.

Arctic Spas.

Loewen had strived to be like them ever since he learned about them. He was impressed by their quality, especially the fact that they were the only hot tub on the market specifically designed for cold climates. Having serviced hot tubs for years, he knew this was the only brand that could really withstand our harsh climate over the long run.

But there was a catch. If Loewen wanted to pursue the opportunity and get access to his competitor’s sales and revenue numbers, he had to lay out a very large, non-refundable deposit. It was in this moment the risk-taking entrepreneur took over and Loewen committed the cash.

“I saw those numbers and, yes, I was very, very interested,” he said. “It was extremely difficult to come up with the funds to make this deal happen. It was then that the accountant that had been with Arctic Spas for years

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had expressed interest in making the deal happen. We sat down, we talked and it became apparent very quickly that this would be a good partner to have. If you ever buy a business and the accountant wants to be a partner, don’t hesitate because that’s been the best decision I have ever made. It took us half a year to put that deal together but we did it.”

“As part of the deal, we not only secured the rights to the territory but also our former competitor’s discounts and long-standing relationship from Arctic Spas. We took over the Oak Bluff location and rebranded the Winkler location and are now running with 15 staff – a long way from running the business out of a garage.”

“Obviously, it’s been very fulfilling and crazy with a lot of growth,” said Loewen. “This is not a long period of time to see this kind of growth and development happen. It’s almost like growing six feet in a year. You don’t even have time to catch up with your growth.”

Now, with two stores and two locations, the business was growing faster than ever.

Then in the winter of 2020, Loewen took another huge risk: he ordered more inventory than ever before to be prepared for the upcoming 2020 season. Loewen’s gut told him 2020 would be the biggest year they would ever have.

Over the years, Loewen has learned to listen to his gut instinct and it has paid off.

“This order included a compound full of hot tubs and a ton of barbecue-related stuff that was part of our barbecue expansion plan,” said Loewen.

Then the industry changed with COVID-19 restrictions.

“I remember very clearly on March 12, the day of our last truckload of inventory arriving was when everything started shutting down,” Loewen said. “My first instinct was that my gut lied to me. How are we going to pay our bills with this much inventory? That was a very scary moment.”

Three weeks went by and it was as dead as a funeral home in the stores. Then one evening, Loewen sold a hot tub and thought “this might be the only hot tub we sell this year but a sale is a sale.”

Then, sales exploded and Arctic Spas sold everything they had, including the hot tubs in the showroom.

“I was scrambling to get more,” Loewen said. “Before we knew it both stores and our compound were empty of inventory. We had nothing to sell and nothing to show. In a very short period of time, we went from having too much inventory to nothing.”

It was then Loewen contacted the factory and asked if there was anything they could do to get more stock for the showroom. He had to commit to not selling the showroom models in the future in order to get more models built quickly.

After that, in another bold decision based on the demand he was seeing, Loewen projected demand for 2020 and ordered an entire year’s worth of hot tubs in one order.

“I remember my partner the accountant asking me ‘How are we going to pay for this?’ and I said ‘Don’t worry they will sell before they get here’.”

And they did. Every hot tub sold before they arrived and Loewen had actually still not ordered enough to meet demand. Arctic Spas were still short of the orders needed to fill for 2020 and it took until spring of 2021 to catch up with orders.

Today, nearing the end of 2021 with the expanded business in place and COVID-19 pinching the supply chain all over the world, Loewen has decided to take the opportunity to focus on the basics of the business: customer service.

“Now that the supply chain has slowed down, we’re going to focus on the future and take the opportunity to continue to learn and continue to focus on customer service and continuing to expand our BBQ section in Winkler – something we weren’t able to focus on that whole year from 2020-2021,” said Loewen. “Now that we’ve slowed down, we have the opportunity to focus on these things again.”

Today, Arctic Spas Manitoba has two locations: one in Winkler, one in Oak Bluff. Arctic Spas Manitoba has delivered and serviced hot tubs as far north as Lynn Lake, MB and as far east as Fort Francis, ON. Hot Tubs is what Arctic Spas Manitoba does best and, while their focus and priority is on any product they’ve sold, they will provide basic service such as heaters, pumps, seals, control systems, and covers for all makes and models. They also have one of the biggest barbecue sections in southern Manitoba, including big names such as Traeger, Camp Chef, Kamado Joe, MasterBuilt, Lumber Jack, Meat Church, Kosmos, 2 Gringos, Killer Hogs, Heath Riles and many more.

Loewen’s story is one of risk-taking, overcoming barriers, budding entrepreneurship and thriving customer service.

It’s the story of a business that went from a garage to multiple locations and more than a dozen staff in only 10 years.

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Business Directory Brad Klassen

204.362.0031 bradnail@sdnet.ca 625 Cargill Rd & 225 George St., Winkler, MB,

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

HOPE THRIFT STORE

Hope Thrift Store opened May 1 as an answer to a question.

How do we support a cause in Mexico, one that is close to many people’s hearts in the Pembina Valley, when the pandemic has made travel impossible?

The non-profit consignment store was started to support a trio of orphanages in Mexico.

Manager Anne Hamm explains the newly formed board of directors saw how local church groups, business owners, and youth groups had been traveling to Mexico and helping build and expand orphanages like Ancla de Amor, or Anchor of Love, started by former Winkler residents Brian and Clarissa Krahn.

The Krahn’s say, sadly their services are called upon on a weekly, sometimes almost daily, basis as so many

children in the community are in need of a safe home.

When children arrive, they receive medical and psychological evaluations and are given the care they need. Many also arrive at Ancla with limited to no education. They ensure each child is given the education they deserve, which often means tutoring to get them back to their grade level.

However, when the global pandemic closed down international travel, many were left wondering how they could creatively support the important work taking place for Mexican families and children.

With a prominent commercial building in the community vacant and the vision of local leaders, Hope Thrift Store was born. Together with umbrella organization, Children of Hope, they are able to receive requests for support from the partner orphanages and distribute funds accordingly.

And with few thrift stores in the area, the new board felt like there was an opportunity to raise support.

Hamm says that their hunch was right.

“It is mind-blowing how much we get delivered.”

Everything from furniture, toys, clothing, and unique vintage items like what could possibly be an antique wheelchair from the early 1900s, there are treasures to be found each week within the 12,000 sq. ft. former Home Hardware building.

And what could possibly be the best volunteer job of all time, Hamm explains when the store receives puzzles they’re sent to individuals with the sole job of puzzling them together to ensure all the pieces are accounted for.

“It doesn’t get any better than puzzling for a good cause.”

Along with supporting the store financially, volunteers are the lifeblood when keep the place humming.

Even just one volunteer hour a week can make a big difference.

“And it’s just a lot of fun, seeing the wide variety of unique items that come in, but also just the family atmosphere and camaraderie.”

A 13-year-old girl volunteers with her grandmother and Hamm says it’s a touching picture of family bonding and mentorship as they grow closer together through the weekly ritual.

She notes some couples come and help out one morning a week, others like one 84-year-old gentleman come in 9-5.

“We don’t need all your time,” Hamm says, just the time you can give from your week makes the whole operation possible.

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SIXTY FIVE YEARS The year was 1956; Elvis had just released his first hit, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, Cecil B. DeMille’s epic ‘The Ten Commandments’ was in theatres, the average annual wages were $4,450, and on a clear June 24 afternoon, more than 1,800 people gathered outside on 15th St. in Winkler to celebrate the dedication service for Salem Home.

Sixty-five years later, Salem Home’s Sherry Janzen is looking back at the care home’s humble beginnings from the founding members to her appointment as the first female CEO, navigating a global pandemic, and Salem’s legacy as a trailblazer.

While the first Mennonite personal care home in Manitoba had already been built in Winnipeg, the Manitoba delegates at the Mennonite General Conference in 1951 turned their sights to Southern Manitoba and the need for their own “Altenheim” or old folks home. In looking back, Janzen spent weeks poring over the original board minutes, exclusively written in High German until 1966, to get a sense of who the founders were.

“They must have thought, “So we’ve addressed the need for the Mennonites in Winnipeg, but we haven’t addressed the needs here, and they probably saw in their congregations that the people were getting older, and wondered where they going to live, some of them needed help.”

Then, in 1954 at a General Meeting of the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba, the historic decision was made to build a 54-bed residence for the aged and infirm in Winkler, and so the churches in the area got together and began planning. A delegation traveled across the US and Canada to see what was out there in terms of facilities and reported back.

“They were very thorough, they did their research,” Janzen says. It wasn’t long and the empty field along 15th St. began to take shape. Much of the construction was done by volunteers, with a total cost, including a $35,000 grant from the Manitoba Government, coming to $146,475.06.

The operational board succeeded in raising thousands of dollars, and they also found deals wherever they could.

The early minutes tell of commissioning Diedrich Peters and PW Enns to make a trip to Winnipeg because there had been reports of doors and windows available for bargain bin prices.

“That’s how they got things done, they really had to scout out where they could get the most for the least amount of money.” In her research, Janzen says she was also struck by the reverence with which the board named the facility and its Biblical significance.

“They were very deliberate.”

In the early minutes, the board rationale for the naming of Salem Home explains its reference to the old name for Jerusalem, the city of peace.

“We are glad to have a home for the aged with this name and it is our desire that for all who will be residents here, it will be a home of peace and love for one another. It is also our wish that all residents would feel at home here.”

Salem Home today carries on that legacy of reverence for people of all ages, seeing each human being as worthy of love and care.

“I think later we simply gave that type of care a name, Christ-centred care… I think back then that was just an

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expectation and a given. Whereas today we are deliberate because we want people to know.”

For Salem staff, it starts with seeing the distinction between the disease, like dementia, apart from the person. Janzen tells the story of a wife that was overcome with gratitude after witnessing how her husband was treated. Her husband had quite a few behaviours, but the staff never reacted negatively. Instead, they served with compassion and patience. “They knew it wasn’t his fault, it was the disease.”

That’s what makes Salem different. When people move into a personal care home, it’s often because of advanced age, but many older adults can care for themselves, Janzen argues.

One phrase that has defined her philosophy of care is, “we’re all temporarily able-bodied persons.”

“It puts things into perspective, even if it’s a perspective most people are uncomfortable with.”

The founders’ resourcefulness and forward-thinking have continued as well; a deeply ingrained trait of the Pembina Valley culture itself.

“From reading the minutes, the decisions they made trying to be as efficient as possible… to me the entrepreneurial spirit of Winkler really started with that age group without realizing it. They had to be so frugal in those days, and there were few government dollars, so you did what you could.”

Looking back, the endeavour is in keeping with the can-do attitude of its community founders and church leaders.

“People in the church communities aren’t necessarily used to sitting around and waiting for the future, so it’s kind of permeated how the board keeps moving forward.”

From the beginning until today, every member church continues to send board members with a vision. In fact, every ten years the board tackles a ten-year visioning session (the next one takes place this fall). They plan not just for themselves, but for future board members as each can serve for nine years.

While it can be dizzying how fast Salem Home pivots, leaders from outside healthcare tend to be methodical, but Janzen knows working with the province means

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decisions can come down suddenly. Or money for specific province-mandated projects can arrive regardless if they’re ready to implement or not.

“So everybody’s going to get tubs. Well, they were on our list to replace, but they don’t need to be replaced today.

But that’s how it is. Once you can wrap your head around it, our vision plan is viewed as a fluid document.”

Thankfully, working in an agricultural community means working with farmers. And that means hardworking folks who are mentally tough, flexible, and resilient. You have to be able to take on the risk of planting a crop every year.

And like many farm families, Janzen recalls her dad operating a $250,000 combine in the 1980s. Her mom, who dreamed of building a new house would say, “my house is driving around on the field”.

Her dad often commented, “I never have to go to Las Vegas, I gamble every spring planting.” Yet, it’s these

farmer values that have trained Janzen and many leaders in the region to see opportunity where others might just see risk.

Looking back at the tremendous number of community-funded projects, expansions, and improvements, the harvest has been bountiful thanks to the willing hands who’ve worked the field and the visionaries who’ve planted the seeds.

“I’d like to think we could do it in a different community, but I’m not so sure. When you don’t live in an entrepreneurial community, how do you get there? All the construction, dining rooms, multipurpose rooms, all gifts we’ve received from community individuals. How can you have a vision if no one responds to that vision?”

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Janzen herself has personally seen much of the most recent innovations at Salem, serving as CEO between 1991 and 1998, and returning in 2004.

Growing up on a mixed dairy and grain farm close to a Mennonite village, Janzen wanted to farm with her dad.

He told her, “there’s more to life than milking cows.”

Janzen originally studied music for a year but decided teaching was not her strength. Instead, she began her career in nursing homes in Saskatchewan as a health care attendant and then moved into Therapeutic Recreation for the next ten years.

“I had the most fun with the residents in this role. I also saw many things that made me look at why certain things were done with residents living in a congregate setting.

One particular example was getting the residents up at 5:00 AM instead of letting them sleep. This seemed to benefit the staff more than the residents. The more I

observed, the greater the conviction that there had to be a different and better way to care for residents.”

After 10 years of working, Janzen attended Wichita State University, Wichita Kansas to study Gerontology. “My school advisor asked me what I wanted to do with my education once completed so we could design a degree around my goals.”

After mentioning she had the vision to manage a nursing home, together with her advisor they created a custom BA degree with two majors – Gerontology and field major in Business Administration, Sociology, and Psychology.

Upon graduation, she was offered a job in Wichita where she experienced working in a different health care system with a very different funding model.

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“I honed skills I didn’t think I had.”

It’s those same skills she would later bring to Winkler.

When she was first hired by Salem, she put that experience and education to work immediately overseeing an annual $5 million budget.

However, being the first female Chief Executive Officer came with its own challenges. The community did not receive the appointment well. In the early 1990s, female CEOs were not as prevalent as they are today. And like many, Janzen found she had to be three times better than her male counterparts to be given a nod of recognition that she can do the job. “I don’t remember there being one singular challenge, but one challenge was earning the trust of the member churches’ leadership.”

The Governing Board at the time took the brunt of the criticism as they had hired someone from outside the community, was not a minister, and was female.

However, coming from the outside provided an opportunity to evaluate the status of where Salem Home was at. One of the first actions she initiated was a review by the Long Term Care division from Manitoba Health. “This was insightful as to where the organization needed to move towards. It provided a framework for the changes that needed to occur. Kay Thompson, Executive Director for Long Term Care at Manitoba Health at the time, was an excellent mentor and had an amazing vision of what PCHs should be.”

Together with the forward-thinking directors and leadership, Salem pushed forward on the cutting edge of both the PCH industry as well as technology. In 2005, along with Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg was the first in the province to utilize micro-fiber cleaning systems.

Salem Home was also the first in North America to implement Momentum software that provides information to staff including electronic menu planning. Salem Home would be an early adopter of hardware as well, including tablets, access points, and Wi-Fi across the facility in 2004 and fiber optic cable installation between Salem and Eden Mental Health Centre to provide quick access to the Provincial Data Network for security purposes due to Electronic Health Records.

In 1994, the leadership at Salem saw Manitoba Health was not increasing the hours of care per resident, so they turned their sights to how they could save staff time and create more space for resident interaction. A decen-

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tralized dining concept saved staff three hours per day as they spent much less time transporting residents for meals.

“Health care is notorious for adding more and more to the workload, but not taking anything away.”

So all the equipment that the Salem Foundation has purchased for use in Salem Home has bought staff time.

Sometimes it’s five minutes per staff member, but if there are five staff working – that’s 25 minutes somewhere in the day.

“Seriously, some of the equipment we have purchased I have seen in magazines.”

The joke among the staff is, “never give Sherry a magazine to look at,” because it lands up in the building – tables, ABBY boards, equipment washers, blanket warmers, to mention a few. Recently she found a fabulous robotic dog on the internet. It is literally lifelike and will be available in early 2022. She can hardly wait to get them into the building for the residents to interact with.

In 2010, Salem Home again led the way, being the first in North America to implement the ground breaking QUIS-EH-O Evaluation Method to measure relationship-centered care and the actual lived experience of residents. The decisions the leadership made then, and make today, are based on research and trends they’re seeing as staff care for residents.

And Salem Home continues to be a trailblazer, introducing new programs and technology from innovative care models like DementiAbility and the Spiritual Care Volunteer Program to time-saving technology like making maintenance requests fully electronic and the Rationale Cooking Centres. Through the past decades, under Janzen’s leadership, Salem Home has pushed the industry forward by keeping one hand on the pulse of modern relational models of care, and the other on breakthroughs in technology.

Lee Iacocca (former GM for Chrysler) once said, you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. Seth Godin says – you either invent the future or you remain status quo.

“I think both of those comments aptly apply to the leadership of Salem Home,” Janzen says. “The status quo is always the easiest way to stay. But in the end, it is the residents who pay the price for not moving forward.”

Now, Janzen together with her team and board of directors oversees an operating budget of over $12 million, between 280 - 300 staff and 221 volunteers, and a facility that has grown to over 86,500 sq. ft. With the ground-breaking work happening at Salem, Janzen has been asked to share Salem Home’s story with other PCHs across Canada and her peers.

“As an organization, we don’t realize how far we have moved away from the 1970s model of providing care until someone asks why we do what we do. And oftentimes, we take for granted that the philosophy of care and the kind of care staff provide at Salem Home is a given.”

Accreditation Canada recognized this difference in designating Salem Home’s model of care and how it is measured as a Leading Practice in 2013.

Relationship-Centered Care has constantly been developed since 2008. And part of developing something is measuring to see if what is being developed is actually happening. A local educator, Peter Wiebe, developed a measurement tool based on the UK Quality of Life Interaction evaluation used to measure care given to residents living with dementia. The instrument measures the actual lived experience of residents, not what we think the resident is experiencing. In addition, the environment and policies are also evaluated to ensure all moving parts are focused on residents. This evaluation tool has been Salem’s road map for the last 11 years.

Then, in 2019, everyone’s world stopped.

Salem Home leaders and staff would face their greatest challenge yet as the world was plunged into a global pandemic. Personal Care Homes were put in the spotlight because of the vulnerability of residents to the virus, caught between restrictive lock-downs and fatal outbreaks.

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The pandemic also revealed the legacy and philosophy of care instilled into the organization. At Salem Home, when the doors were closed in March 2020, the leadership group worked hard to ensure that the quality of care would not suffer, even though families could not visit.

While staff will never take the place of family interactions, every effort was made to keep the residents’ days as normal as possible. Additional Therapeutic Recreation staff was asked to work so there were activities for residents to engage in the evenings. Staff and families got creative in learning to communicate via technology or the old-fashioned landline telephone. Staff still continued to hug the residents, spend time with residents, and find new ways to involve the residents in their environment and with those around them.

It was difficult for families and the community to understand that Salem Home was (and continues to be) under Public Health orders and required to follow what was laid out for the PCHs in the province.

Some families were angry and vocal. Yet, many families also expressed their appreciation for staff keeping their loved ones safe even though the conditions were not ideal. The guidepost in the last year remained the mission of Salem Home – to provide Christ-centered care.

“Some may argue that we did not follow our mission, but those individuals are not responsible the same way we are.

Prayer for all of us in a leadership role has been a constant as we worked through each situation before us.”

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The harsh reality is, the past 18 months have been very trying for everyone.

But Janzen says for the staff there have been lessons learned during the past two years as well. One is how fast the public responds to an issue, even though they may not have all the information. The flip side is how appreciative families have been.

The most important is always keeping the reason why Salem Home exists – the residents – front and center.

And the question, “How can we continue to work at making the residents’ lives better while living at Salem Home, regardless of what is happening around us?”

As individuals, we tend to make lots of plans and look

forward to implementing those plans, Janzen explains.

“But this season is teaching all of us to take each day and treat it gently because tomorrow our whole world can change.”

“It has been my privilege to be part of Salem Home’s history these many years. The support for Salem Home from the churches and community is an encouragement to those who provide leadership to the organization and care to the residents. Salem has many more pages of its history to write as it continues to pursue excellence in providing resident care within its mission.”

In the end, Salem Home is just that, a place people call home.

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And since the beginning, it’s easy to trace how the staff and leadership have wrestled to make it that way, from the expansions, new programs and activities, and staff training.

Janzen shares the story of a local business leader touring Salem and hearing all the changes and additions over the years.

He said, “Your staff must be amazing.”

While that was no secret to Janzen, she was curious what prompted the observation.

He answered simply, “Because you’re constantly changing, most organizations don’t change, they’re so afraid of change.’”

Thomas Jefferson once said the measure of a society is how it treats the weakest members. By that metric, Janzen believes the Pembina Valley is strong, working hard to weave the wellbeing of Salem residents into the fabric of the community, from regular fundraising efforts to the choirs who perform at Salem, the elementary school classes that visit, and the pastors that guest preach on Sunday mornings.

Asking around, almost everyone has a Salem story.

Whether it was their employer at one time, or the home of a grandparent or relative, or a place they’ve volunteered.

That familiarity for many has kept Salem Home from being a scary place for many growing up in Winkler. It’s one of the many reasons staff began decorating a forest of Christmas trees around the facility, not just to build a whimsical Christmas atmosphere for the residents and staff, but because it attracted the community and kept them from only seeing a care facility, but a home like theirs.

Many people come inside to see the Christmas trees and even bring their children, an experience that helps them build positive memories with Salem from a young age. “It’s pretty, and shows them a nursing home isn’t scary, and it brings in people who wouldn’t necessarily come to Salem.” Small things like the Christmas trees, Christ-centred care, and community involvement add up to a beautiful lived experience for residents.

“It’s these little things that make life sweet.”

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