The Envision Counselling & Support Centres have received a substantial donation this week.

A presentation was made yesterday of just under $44,000 in Estevan by organizers of the Savour the Southeast Trade Show, which was held in Estevan in May.

“It’s a huge relief,” said Executive Director of Envision, Christa Daku. “It’s been a very stressful few years. We’ve had to be very creative in how we’re going to maintain our programming."

"Fortunately, we have a position in house that applies for various grants," she said. "I look after the government funding proposals and all those types of things, but we’ve been able to sustain our education and prevention program through the outreach department only through grants.”

“To be totally truthful, we’ve been under a government funding freeze for the last three years, so this will help us not create such a deficit budget moving forward in this fiscal year,” explained Daku.

“Basically it’s going to be toward all operations,” she said. “All of our programs are running a deficit in some way or another. We’ll be able to sustain the programming that we do offer without any layoffs or cutbacks.”

The Savour the Southeast Trade Show donates proceeds each year a charitable organization.

“Each year we put out an application process for a different group,” said Josh Leblanc, Spokesman for the event.

“Because our show is called Savour the Southeast, we did see Envision’s application come through, and we felt that this group would have a better chance of dealing with the southeast, or the event would have a way better way of of impacting the southeast corner of the province.”

He said the impact Envision has on the southeast is why they were chosen as recipients.

Envision Counselling and Support Centre provides therapeutic counselling and support, crisis intervention, in-home services, groups, workshops, and education that help individuals, families, and couples to feel empowered and content.