13 December 2004
Train Carries Christmas
Cheer
The Moffatts entertained a crowd
of 1,500 who came to see the CPR Holiday Train when it pulled into Kenora
Friday evening.
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By donating food to the CPR
holiday train, her granddaughters know they're helping, Shirley Hando said Friday as she and her
husband Jim snuggled on a wool blanket with Bronte, 5, and McKeely, 3, waiting for the train to
arrive in Kenora.
Then it rumbled in - a 10-car freight train lit up with Christmas lights - that had
departed from St. Therese, P.Q. 3 Dec 2004 en route to Port Moody, B.C.
Since its inception six years ago, the Canadian and American holiday trains have collected 213 tonnes
of food and over $1.5 million Cdn for North American foodbanks, CPR spokesman Paul Thurston told
1,500 Kenoraites who showed up for the event in the CPR old south yard. In Canada alone, 800,000
people live off food banks, he said.
The Canadian train is making 59 stops in communities big and small. Along the way, the crew accepts
donations of food and cash, hands out cheques and entertains the crowd.
This year, The Ennis Sisters, The Moffats and Tracey Brown belted out songs from a boxcar.
"It's really heart-warming," said Salvation Army soldier Wendy Metail.
Thurston presented Coun. Rory McMillan with a cheque for $2,500, money that will help the Salvation
Army stock 465 hampers for needy families. The stop in Kenora was set up by Buck Matiowski's Street
Brigade and Green Team, who put up the bleachers and floodlights and lit warming fires in
barrels.
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