Canadian Pacific (CP) Holiday Train raises food and funds for Hamilton Food Share at free annual event

HAMILTON, ON - Canadian Pacific (CP) Holiday Train is back for its 19th year in an effort to raise money, food and awareness for local food banks. The annual event features Canadian music stars Jim Cuddy, Devin Cuddy and Kelly Prescott.

The CP Holiday Train in partnership with Hamilton Food Share asks the public to bring coins and healthy, non-perishable food donations such as tuna, beans, rice, pasta, cereal and baby food to the event. ArcelorMittal Dofasco volunteers will be onsite to help collect donations that will assist emergency food programs (food banks and hot meal lines) in Hamilton.

Event details

Date: Tuesday November 28, 2017 
Time: 7:45 PM
Location: Lawrence Road south of Gage Park

Come early to see Santa and local team mascots Stripes and Bruiser. While waiting for the train to arrive, listen to great music presented by 102.9 K-Lite and enjoy free coffee and hot chocolate provided by Tim Hortons.

“I love this train. In addition to kicking off the Christmas season with this remarkable display of Christmas lights in motion, it also shines a light on the issue of hunger in our community.”

Joanne Santucci, Executive Director of Hamilton Food Share

In order to ensure public safety during the CP Holiday Train event, a section of Lawrence Road (from Kensington to Cumberland) will be closed from 5:30 pm to approximately 9 pm. During this road closure, there will be no access to and from the Gage Park parking lot.

Quick Facts

• The Holiday Train features 14 rail cars decorated with hundreds of thousands of technology-leading LED lights. Once the train has safely come to a stop at Gage Park, a modified boxcar that has been turned into a traveling stage opens up for a free concert.
• CP's annual Holiday Train program is a rolling fundraising event that travels across Canada and the United States raising money, food and awareness for food banks and hunger issues, hosting free holiday concerts along the way. Since 1999 the program has raised more than $13 million and 4 million pounds of food from across North America.
• There are 21,840 food bank visits in Hamilton each month, an increase of 9% over last year. Donations collected at the event will assist in filling over 10,000 Christmas hampers for people in need this holiday season.

Additional Resources

• For more information about this event: www.hamilton.ca/CPHolidayTrain
• For more information on the CP Holiday Train: www.cpr.ca/en/community/holiday-train
• For more information on Hamilton Food Share: www.hamiltonfoodshare.org