Amid the flurry of activity this weekend at Hometown Hockey in Winkler, one local non-profit is celebrating a significant donation that will fast-track expansion plans.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Altona, Morden and Winkler has been awarded the $15,000 Ted Rogers Community Grant. The grant will fund several youth-mentoring programs, including in-school mentoring, Go Girls and Game On, helping youth make positive lifestyle choices, increase their self-confidence and engage in safe, healthy relationships.

"It was a big surprise," BBBS Executive Director Michael Penner says. "It's a huge boost for us."

He notes they were projecting a small loss at year-end, that's no longer the case thanks to the grant. As well, Penner says they'll be able to expand programming to Carman.

"We were exploring that slowly... now we have the funds to pursue that."

Expanding to Carman means BBBS will operate out of four three communities including Altona, Morden and Winkler. This past year BBBS has overseen 90 mentorship matches.

This weekend's free festival continues Sunday, March 3 at noon, and runs through the end of the Hometown Hockey outdoor viewing party. View our full gallery of Saturday's events below:

For a full schedule of the weekend go here: https://www.hometownhockey.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Winkler_Schedule.pdf