Holiday Train Will Not Roll This Year
Written by Paul Graif on 25 September 2020
The CP Holiday Train is the latest victim of the pandemic. For the first time in 22 years the two trains, one of which begins in Kahnawake, will not leave the station. Since 1999, the annual Canadian Pacific Railway Holiday Train has pulled into communities, held concerts and raised money and food for local food banks across Canada and the United States.
Cory Rice is the Coordinator of the Kateri Food Basket in Kahnawake. He says the news was not a big surprise, but it still hurts. “It’s kind of sad,” Rice said. “It’s a big event for the Food Basket every year. But I understand the circumstances we’re under. We usually get four or five truckloads of food so this year we’re going to have to come up with a few other big things to try to make up for that.” The Food basket is open for donations at the Knights of Columbus Mon-Fri from 8am to 3 pm for drop offs and donations.
CP instead plans to donate to those food banks this year and host virtual concerts. Over its 21 years of operation, the holiday train has raised nearly $18 million while collecting almost five million pounds of food for local food banks.
