Since 1999, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train has raised more than $17.8 million and 4.8 million pounds of food for North American food banks. Everything raised in a community stays in that community. In addition, CP makes a donation at each stop. 

Unfortunately this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic the annual Holiday Train will not be making its usual stop in Weyburn. That is because CP will be hosting a virtual concert tomorrow night in lieu of their regular Holiday Train program. 

"So CP's Holiday Train at Home concert is going to be airing on Facebook on December 12th," told Salem Woodrow, Spokesperson for the CP Holiday Train. "We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to impact communities. And with the train not being able to run in its regular format we wanted to focus on food banks and the important role that they play within the communities. So the CP Holiday Train at Home concert is going to continue to raise money and awareness to help local food banks collect the much-needed donations. It's such a critical time of year." 

This year you can enjoy some incredible Canadian talent from the comfort of your own home. So you won't be freezing your fingers and faces outside this year. 

"We have Serena Ryder, the Trews, JoJo Mason, Logan Staats, and Kelly Prescott," Woodrow explained. "This is a fully Canadian lineup of quite a group of powerhouse performers. We're so happy that they have signed on to be a part of this. The CP Holiday Train at Home concert is sure to be one to see this year and we're really looking forward to bringing that to people's homes on Saturday." 

And of course, the Holiday Train wouldn't be happening without raising funds and food for local food banks in Canada and the US. 

"We will have links available for people to donate directly to Food Banks Canada or Feeding America," stated Woodrow. "Of course we are also encouraging people to continue to donate to their local food bank if they're able to. The need for food banks this year has only been increased with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting a lot of people in very critical ways. So we do encourage people to give to their local food bank. Whether it's while they're watching the show or in advance of the show. Every dollar matters because food banks have so much ability to really make that dollar stretch." 

Canadian Pacific plans to help out this year as well by making a substantial donation towards all of the local food banks that they support. 

"This year CP is going to donate 1.24 million dollars to 201 food banks and communities that would normally host the CP Holiday Train event," Woodrow expressed. "CP always donates to food banks throughout the CP Holiday Train program. While we're bringing this beautiful train of lights across the countries we're also making a direct donation to these food banks. So regardless of the regular program running this year, we wanted to continue to ensure that our train was supporting these food banks during such a critical time of year. So that 1.24 million dollars is going to go to 201 food banks who really could use it." 

The stream starts at 6:00 p.m. and you can watch it on the Canadian Pacific Facebook page.