(Source: Canadian Pacific Railway press release, October 4, 2011)
CALGARY, Alberta — North America’s longest-running rolling food bank fundraiser begins its unique trek across Canada and the U.S. Midwest and Northeast the last weekend of November in its cross-border mission to feed communities.
For the 13th year, two specially decorated freight trains will launch their unique journeys across six Canadian provinces and eight U.S. states: The U.S. Holiday Train on Friday, November 25 while the Canadian train will begin its cross-country trek on Sunday, November 27.
About 150 cities and towns on both sides of the border will be able to join the Holiday Train spirit and magic, with all food and money raised at each stop staying in that community for local distribution.
Since 1999, the CP Holiday Train program, powered by an army of employee volunteers, has raised
$5.6 million and generated close to 2.5 million pounds of food donations for local food shelves.
Each Holiday Train has 14 rail cars decorated with hundreds of thousands of festive lights. Included is a modified boxcar that has been turned into a travelling stage for performers.
Headlining the musical spirit of the season from a specially designed stage on the Canadian Holiday Train is Canadian legend Valdy, while leading the musical message on the U.S. train stage will be Wisconsin’s Willy Porter.
The 2011 CP Holiday Train schedule is now available on cpr.ca – a website that more than 150,000 visitors check out each holiday season to get the latest updates and the train stop nearest them. As well, both Holiday Trains can be followed on Facebook and on Twitter @CPHolidaytrain.