Fundraiser on rails comes to Cowtown
robin kuniski/for metro calgary
Nova Scotia’s Melanie Doane rocks the crowd at the Calgary Food Bank and Canadian Pacific Railway’s annual Holiday Train event. The train made a stop in Calgary last night during its two-week cross-country tour collecting food for Canadian food banks.
robin kuniski/for metro calgary
Brett Dibble, team leader of the Youth Volunteer Corp, Breanna, 16, and Jordan Lzyk, 17, take food donations from people and load them into one of the large box trucks on site at the Calgary Food Bank and Canadian Pacific Railway’s annual Holiday Train.
The Holiday Train chugged its way through Calgary last night and more than 1,000 people took in the festive sights and sounds of the nationwide food bank fundraiser.
Canadian Pacific Railway and the Calgary Food Bank teamed up for the eighth annual CP Holiday Train tour which made a stop in the city to collect food and money from well-wishers.
Heather Jones, communications specialist for CPR, told Metro the train has already raised $3 million and more than 1.6 million pounds of food.
“This is a one-of-a-kind event and the most remarkable and heart-warming way to give back to the community. It’s amazing to see how much it has grown and you can see the holiday spirit when the train pulls up,” she said.
Rockers Wide Mouth Mason and songstress Melanie Doane are travelling on the train performing shows in each city. The train started its fundraising tour in Montreal on Dec. 1 and will end up in Port Moody, B.C., Dec. 18.
While they don’t have specific goals of how much they want to raise, Jones said they just want to bring in as much as they can.
“It’s for such a good cause. It helps bring awareness to the community about the seriousness of hunger and gives people a chance to support each other.”
Susan Anderson and her family of four watch the Holiday Train every year it makes a stop in Cowtown.
“We started about three years ago. It’s just a nice family event and it feels good to give back,” she said.
For more information on the fundraiser, please visit www.cpr.ca.
