17 November 2008
CP Rail Holiday Train Will Stop in Hastings Again this Year
Hastings Minnesota USA - The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train
will make another stop in Hastings to benefit the Hastings Family Service emergency food shelf.
Last year, the Canadian Pacific Railroad presented a check for $1,000 to Hastings Family Service. In addition, 2,500 pounds of food
and more than $2,500 in cash were donated to the food shelf by the community at the event.
The brightly decorated holiday train will stop at the train depot in downtown Hastings from about 4:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Friday,
12 Dec 2008. The Hastings stop is one of the Holiday Train's scheduled stops during its annual trip this year. Bringing
holiday cheer and an important message of support for food banks are Juno award-winning singer songwriter Melanie Doane
and blues rocker Shaun Verreault of Wide Mouth Mason fame. Their live 30-minute performance at the event is free and in
return, residents can donate nonperishable food items or cash to support the local food shelf.
More than 40 American cities, towns and villages will experience the Holiday Train spirit, starting in Scranton, Pa.,
28 Nov 2008, and concluding in Carpio, N.D., 17 Dec 2008.
The CP Holiday Train achieves a milestone this year, celebrating 10 years of hope and community support. Since 1999, the Holiday Train
has helped to raise more than $3.5 million and 1.8 million pounds of food.
The Holiday Train program began in 1999 with a small number of communities and a few lights on freight train. Today with its hundreds
of thousands of festive lights and a live show featuring well-known performers, it is one of Canadian Pacific's main
ambassadors in working with communities in Canada and the United States and is the only fundraiser of its kind for food banks in North
America.
Two Holiday Trains this year are crossing seven states and six Canadian provinces for a combined distance of about 6,500 miles. Each
train is about 1,000 feet long with 14 decorated rail cars, plus a modified box car that has been turned into a traveling stage for
performers.
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