Winnipeg’s Christmas Cheer Board asking for help to get hampers delivered

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Peggy

With Christmas less than two weeks away, the Christmas Cheer Board of Winnipeg is asking for help to get thousands of hampers delivered to people across the city.

Shawna Bell, the board’s executive director, says they still have more than 10,000 hampers in their warehouse that need to be delivered to families in need.

Bell says anyone with a vehicle who is willing to spare some time can drop by the warehouse at 895 Century St. to help them with deliveries.

“We’re hopeful that drivers will come out and help us get those hamper packages into those folks’ hands so that they can have a nice holiday season,” said Bell.

After opening for deliveries on Dec. 5, Bell said things didn’t start to get busy at the Cheer Board until after the first heavy snowfall.

“It’s just like Christmas shopping. Everybody puts it off until the last minute and now it’s time. And now it’s a rush to get the hampers out,” said Bell.

The Christmas Cheerboard is asking for help to get hampers delivered — The Cheer Board’s warehouse at 895 Century St. is filled with Christmas hampers waiting to be delivered. (Ron Dhaliwal/CBC)

Bell says they usually have volunteers that come from every area of the city to help. Sometimes they’ve had police services and people from the military and employees from corporate offices come in to do deliveries.

“The support from the community means so very much, it’s the deliveries that’s the final thing just to close the season out.”

Bell is hoping there will be a significant uptake over the weekend once the temperatures start to rise. She said there is no need to call ahead or register, people can just come by.

“We want to see more and more folks coming in. This delivery floor here needs to be completely empty when we’re done,” she said.

Although the Canada Post strike hasn’t impacted them because they don’t normally use them for deliveries, Bell said the Cheer Board has had a decline in donations since postal workers walked off the job.

“We do receive a significant amount of donations through the mail. So without having that this year, it has impacted what our overall donations look like this year.”

Because of the shortage of drivers, Bell is encouraging people to come and pick up their own hampers.

“However, we do make that an option because some folks just don’t have access to a vehicle or transportation,” she said.

The Christmas Cheer Board’s warehouse is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Bell says the last day for deliveries is Dec. 23.