On a mission to raise money for local food banks from coast to coast, the Canadian Pacific (CP) Holiday Train is ‘making a difference, one stop at a time’.
The CP Holiday Train will be making its Cochrane stop between River Avenue and 4th Street, behind the Provincial Building, on Dec. 13 at 3 p.m., as well as in Morley at the Stoney Trading Post at 4:30 p.m.
Those who would like to come down and support their local food banks should pack up a couple of canned goods, bundle up their little ones and head down to their closest locale as the train pulls up, revealing brightly-lit box cars with live entertainment for the price of a simple food bank donation.
At each stop, a cheque will be presented from CP Rail to representatives from local food banks.
“We like to think that we improve our production every year,” said Kevin Hrysak, manager of media relations for the Canadian Holiday Train. “The message is still the same in that we’re raising awareness for local food banks…there are hundreds of thousands of people across Canada using food banks.”
Since 1999, the Holiday Train program has raised nearly $6.4 million and 2.6 million pounds of food. There are two CP Holiday Trains — the U.S. train runs throughout Southern Ontario, into the Northeastern U.S. and into the Midwestern U.S.; and the Canadian train, which runs from Montreal to Vancouver.
The train only stops in Cochrane and surrounding communities every second year, as the train alternates routes toward Vancouver by going through the Rocky Mountains and Crowsnest Pass.
Between the two trains, some 150 communities are visited each Christmas season spanning 10,000 km, spreading holiday cheer as it rolls up with some 14 box cars decked out in glittery glare and modified box car turned travelling stage; the Canadian train runs from Nov. 28-Dec. 17.
“We have a fabulous train to look at and we put on a fabulous show — all we ask is that people who come down to watch bring with them a non-perishable food bank donation,” said Hrysak.
“Last year, we raised $800,000 and 200,000 pounds of food, which was a record. Our combined goal this year would be to raise more than that.”
The entertainers aboard this year include Canadian country group, Doc Walker, one of the 2012 Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMA) Album of the Year nominees, as well as Ontario soul singer, Miss Emily, who is currently working on her debut CD with the help of The Tragically Hip’s Gord Sinclair.
Learn more at cpr.ca/en/in-your-community/holiday-train.
