The United Way High River Partnership has handed out about $75,000 in grants to ten community groups.

The Town's Manager of Community Support Services, Shelly Koot says the qualifications for United Way grants are a little broader than those for the Family and Community Support Services grants.

"The United Way of Calgary and area, they have a bit broader mandate, so anything that's around helping reduce poverty, looking at helping support children and then helping improve communities, so community life, community involvement,  those sorts of things," Koot says.

She says a great deal of thanks goes out to the volunteers who worked every one of the five events they put on through the year including the Ollie Peterson Memorial Boxing Day hockey tournament,  the Great Scott golf and curling tournament, the Heroes campaign, Boston Pizza's Celebrity Server night and McDonald's United for High River Day.

Koot says there's something really great about the United Way Partnership with the Town.

"Every dollars raised here, stays here, so if you're out at any of the five events or you donate through a workplace contribution, all the money that you donate stays right here and gets invested in High River.

These are the groups that have received money through the United Way/High River Partnership:

$ 7,000 for Big Brothers and Big Sisters (Mentoring in High River)
$ 12,000 for Boys and Girls Club (Youth Programs)
$ 3,500 for Foothills Advocacy in Motion (Community Kitchen Program)
$ 8,900 for Foothills Fetal Alcohol Society (Baby Talk)
$ 8,000 for Foothills SNAPS (Family Support)
$ 12,000 for Food for Thought (School lunches)
$ 4,000 for Literacy For Life (Dog Tails Program)
$ 2,600 for Roots of Empathy (Student Empathy Program)
$ 5,000 for Rowan House (Branches Program)
$ 12,000 for Food Security Initiative (Funds for students and a pilot summer program)

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