A collection of communities in southwestern Saskatchewan were recently approved for some project funding this summer.

The nearly $23,500 is courtesy of Community Futures Southwest and will aid four towns, nine villages, two hamlets, and one business with small projects.

Kara Thompson, the general manager of Community Futures Southwest, said the favourite part of her job is discovering the ideas that are submitted by each community and business in the area.

"The communities all have projects that enhance their way of life, or bring new infrastructure, or create a new space for everyone to enjoy and the volunteers that come together to complete these projects have so much passion and energy to put into the work," she said. "It is inspiring and so much fun to be a part of."

The 2021 Refresh Program offered by Community Futures Southwest allowed applicants to ask for a maximum of $2,000 in grant funding to assist the project each community or business applied for.

"We find that some of the applications request less dollars than others which makes it easier for us to fund more applications," she said.

This year the program received 18 applications, which according to Thompson is a touch on the lighter side, however, they did switch the process to online.

"That may have deterred a few people from applying but we hope to make it easy and hope to see more in the future," she said.

The dough comes from Community Futures Southwest's operating dollars, which is funded by Western Economic Diversification.

To see a full list of approved projects for each community or business see below.