Safe Communities Humboldt and Area has changed since its inception in 2005, executive director Shari Hinz says.

“We’ve gone from a small community-based organization - which we essentially still are - but we’ve been able to expand the programming that we’ve offered over the years.”

Mayor Rob Muench presented a $15,000 cheque to Hinz at Monday’s council meeting, reflecting the city’s commitment to the group in its 2018 budget, following a report from Hinz on the group’s activities.

“It’s a very important donation on behalf of the City of Humboldt because essentially it allows us to maintain our base operations as an organization,” Hinz said.

Last year the group incorporated as a non-profit to open additional doors for funding, and is also working towards charitable status, she said.

Their activities have made a difference, she said. In one instance, young graduates of the agriculture safety day applied what they learned at a house fire, calling emergency services and getting everyone out of the home.

Hinz also spoke of another youth, a member of the Humboldt Broncos, whose thumbnail she painted red as part of a distracted driving campaign. He told her that was something he needed to remind him to keep his phone down when he was driving, she said.

“Those are the kinds of things, they may not always be huge, but if it can have an impact on an individual where they retain some information from our program or it helps them makes a choice to keep them and others safe, that’s the kind of work our organization does.”