Christmas Cheer Board needs 'to push hard' to reach 2014 goal

The Christmas Cheer Board kicked off its annual food drive and hamper campaign on Tuesday.

Executive director Kai Madsen said they are hoping to raise $800,000-$900,000 to cover the cost of purchasing food and everything else needed to fill each hamper. He anticipates putting together about 18,000 hampers, which is how many were made last year.

More than half of what makes it into the hampers is donated but what isn't donated has to be purchased to make sure that no hamper or family is left without gifts or food items, according to the Cheer Board's website.

"We have to come up with the money to pay for the turkeys and the groceries and the toys," Madsen said, adding that so far, the donations are lagging compared to past years.

"I don't know exactly what the numbers are yet but I can tell it's slower than normal. We need to push hard," he said.

The CCB provides help to families receiving Employment Income Assistance and many of the working poor in the city during the holiday season.

The roots of the Cheer Board go back to 1919, when a number of Winnipeg churches began providing food and toys for widows and orphans of the soldiers lost during the First World War.

The churches operated as a loosely-linked group for many years until the needs of many other families grew and they decided to unite into one organization. That was in the mid-1940s, when the Cheer Board came into existence.

Every year, nearly 5,000 people donate their time to pack and deliver Christmas hampers to families in need. The Cheer Board estimates that 1,000 students pack 15,000 hampers each year.

Food donations can be dropped off at any Winnipeg Safeway location and there are dozens of drop off locations for toys and other items.