This morning the 18 Wheels of Christmas Edmonton
volunteers had the privilege work an 8:30am-12pm shift at the Edmonton Food
Bank building food hampers for the less fortunate.
So it is now as I reflect what we were a
witness to today and on my own life, my heart is heavy.Growing up, we were never what you considered
a privileged family, but we never went without. Were things tight
sometimes?Absolutely, but we never went
without. My parents were always able to put food on the table, and we were
blessed.
Hearing today the statistics of the numbers
of people relying on the food bank and how the number is steadily increasing, and
what the early projections for 2016 are, you can’t help but wonder how this
could have happened. We live in Alberta, the “oil rich” province. How can it
be? Unfortunately it is a reality thousands are facing every day.
As we built food hampers and listened to
different people’s stories, I can’t imagine how these individuals that work at
the Food Bank stay so positive and uplifting being surrounded by such gloom and
personal hardship. I think it helps to have a great group of people, like
Tamisan and Vince, who continually provide the laughter and keep looking at the
good and focusing only on the positive.
While we were there, we met a homeless man,
his story is heart breaking, and the Food Bank is now his safe haven, he stops
in and is never turned away. They allow him a place to get warm, give him a
bite to eat, and he is the nicest man you would ever hope to meet. As Santa
handed out candy canes and gloves to everyone waiting, this man politely asked
if he could have two pairs of the kid’s gloves to give to his grandchildren for
a Christmas gift. When we left, he was outside and with a big grin, shouted
“Merry Christmas” to us all from across the parking lot.
We can make a difference. There is still
time to help. No man, woman, or child should ever have to go hungry.
18 Wheels Grande Prairie was once again a tremendous success. They out did last years totals with 14 pallets of food and $538 in cash! In a unique twist, the 18 Wheels Team chose to use the cash to purchase 21 $25 Super Store gift cards which were given to the Food Bank to use in whatever way they saw fit.
With the truck strategically parked at the Superstore in Grande Prairie, donations started coming in as soon as the doors opened.
We caught up with Rosenau Transport Managers Les and Rosa Harnett early on in their first day and they were already busy at work loading donations into the trailer.
Lots of great people, volunteers and even a few furry friends dropped by throughout the day!
Every single donation counts but throughout the event, we had many large donations from individuals and groups!
There were collection boxes inside the store as well and 18 Wheels Volunteers were inside frequently throughout the day emptying the boxes and bringing the donations out to the trailer!
No event is complete without a visit from the big guy himself. Santa was on hand several times throughout the day making sure that things ran smoothly!
The trailer looks beautiful at night and attract plenty of attention from a distance!
A terrific idea! As people made donations, their names were added to the 18 Wheels Poster Board!
Grande Prairie is already planning next years event and looking forward to making a difference!
Dawson Creek's 18 Wheels was a resounding success once again this year. With 17 Pallets of Food, 2 Pallets of Toys and $2600 for the United Way !
Events on this scale require a lot of planning and coordination, and to that end, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Karen Brisebois at Rosenau Transport Ltd. and Riannon McVeigh of United Way! These two very special ladies spent countless hours, planning, meeting and executing this project. Not only were they instrumental in the planning, they were both on site the entire 2 day event, a total of 20 hours! Of course, they had many hands helping. We would like to thank Adam from Cat Rentals, the Dawson Creek RCMP, the Dawson Creek Fire Department, the Salvation Army and of course the many volunteers from Rosenau Transport. Karen G, Ed F, Blaine M, Bruce S, Cory H, Monique W, Rachel R and her daughter, Dave P, Randy W, Renie K, Chris L, Jessie and Adrian H. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to Colyn Brisebois, a former Rosenau employee who flew up from Vancouver just to help in an event that he feels so strongly about.
We had the trailer parked for two days prior to the event to generate interest and our friends at the Co-Op made sure that the Public knew what was coming. Thanks for the great sign guys!
A Special Thank you to the four Members Of The Dawson Creek RCMP who came by, but especially Leo and Stephanie who braved the cold and the wind for several hours on our first day.
Our good friends from the Encana Events Centre came by with a terrific donation. Thanks so much you guys for everything you do for our community!
This event would not have been possible without the support of our Main Sponsor, The Dawson Creek Co-Op ! These guys went above and beyond. Not only did they provide us with a spot for the trailer, they provided a tent,power, music, hot chocolate, cookies and a portable heater! To top it off, Shamir and his team put together dozens of prepackaged $25 bags of which we collected nearly 80!
Our good friend Adam from Cat Rentals was on hand to help collect donations and man the hot chocolate and cookie table!
The truck and trailer were a huge draw once the sun went down. We were parked right on the Alaska Highway, pretty hard to miss us. On Friday night the City Of Dawson Creek held their annual Christmas tree light up just a few blocks away on Main Street and we had volunteers down there handing out the flyers!
We have a pretty special group of people in Dawson Creek who never fail to show up and give a hand. Our Firefighters are a valued part of our Community and we are so happy to call many of them our friends.
The 18 Wheels event is also a great opportunity to educate people. Here, we have a poster board talking about all the great work that United Way does in the Community. Of course, we had Riannon on hand the entire time to talk about her organization and all of the good it does in the community.
You could not ask for a more spirited, energetic champion for her cause than the one to the right. Riannon from United Way of Northern British Columbia braved bitterly cold temperatures, winds gusting to 80 kilometres an hour and long drives back and forth between Dawson Creek and Ft. St. John to make this event the success that it was. Her smile never left her face the entire time and she made a point of greeting and thanking every person who made a donation, big or small. We are privileged to work with this lady and are already looking forward to next year.
I think if I were to go through my emails, between Karen and Riannon, i have probably two dozen emails, updating us on progress, arranging meetings and making great suggestions. You two ladies are 100% responsible for the success of this event!
You can't underestimate the power of having your own fire truck front and centre promoting your cause! Naturally, we had to make sure they were parked for a quick getaway in the event that they were needed for an emergency.
One of our first donors on Day One with a cash donation was Brett from Northern Hotshot. Brett works closely with our Rosenau Team here in Dawson and he never fails to show up when we are running a charity event!
We had many of our customers come by over Friday and Saturday bringing donations. A special thank you to our good friends over at Reg Norman Trucking who dropped by with a $500 donation that will be going to good use in United Way causes here in Dawson Creek!
These two pretty ladies made our day on Saturday ! They are with The George Dawson Inn and came by with a $1000 donation, an amazing amount of groceries and an absolute insistence that they be involved in our event next year! Trust me, you are on the mailing list! Thank you so much for everything you do.
Of course, we can't forget our friends at The Salvation Army who will be receiving all of the donations for their Food Bank. Though new to the area, Lieutenants Ian and Donna Rabourne were at the event frequently to help out and their gratitude for what we were doing was self evident. They also helped out with the planning and execution of the event and Donna made sure every business in Dawson Creek had a flyer. We also had Al from the Salvation Army helping out and a special Thank you to Brian who spent a total of eight hours at the event greeting the kids and having a great time....and yes, the beard is real...
Another huge contributor to this effort was our local media. Many thanks to CJDC Radio for being on location, CJDC for the TV news coverage included in this post. As well, The Alska Highway News and Northeast News for their great newspaper articles and coverage and Peace FM for their Facebook Coverage and follow up radio interview. Thank you for all you do in your community!
We definitely attracted lots of attention over the event. Social Media was buzzing with everyone wondering why the Police and Fire Department were at Co-Op. Another great opportunity to get the message out again!
Our trailer lights stay on year round but every year they require some TLC. As well this year, we decorated the truck. many, many thanks to my great staff at Dawson creek who punched out and helped get both units ready to go! We had many compliments on your efforts!
Another group of people who need to be recognized are the great people who dropped by with donations just for our volunteers! A special Thank you to Krista Forshner with Krista's Kreations who dropped by with a huge tray of the most delicious cupcakes for our volunteers! Also a big shout out to the great folks at the Co-Op gas bar who made sure we had free coffee over the two day event!
While a few volunteers manned the tables and the trailer, the bulk of our volunteers spent hours out in the cold and wind on the street waving in the public and promoting the cause! Some of these people were out there for hours without a break !
Many thanks to all of the people who made this a success! You made a difference in the lives of many people over these two days! We cannot adequately express our gratitude and we are already looking forward to next year!
We parked the trailer and set our table up at 4:30PM, just in
time as the road was closed to traffic at the stroke of 5. It didn’t take
long before the stream of people started showing up at our spot food donations
in hand. We had pre-packaged hampers for those who forgot to bring a donation
or just wanted to stop buy and purchase one.
Once again the spirit of this community lit up the night.
The steady stream of food and cash donations lasted until the Fire Works
display at 9PM. We left the Okotoks Food Bank with 13 full food collection
boxes and a nice sum of cash.
Thank
you to Sheila and your wonderful volunteers for helping out. A huge thank you
to the Rosenau Transport volunteers for giving up their Friday night to make
this event one big party!!!!
The 18 Wheels of Christmas is rolling again in Saskatoon. Our Volunteer Elves
have been busy. Truck and trailer have had their preliminary Wash, and
Detailing. Looking sharp!
We have a couple of dates set for Food collections, before the Santa Claus Parade Nov 15. Give us a call at 306-244-7088 for details.
We all love this time of year, as it brings everyone together, for the same
goal. To fill these Trailers,with food, for their respective areas.
Cheers Everyone. "Believe In The Magic"..because "The Magic Begins With You"! We will keep you updated!
We are excited once again to be asked to participate in the Annual Pouce Coupe Truck Light Parade! We will be collecting donations for the Pouce Coupe Food Bank as well as angling for a recognition for our 18 Wheels Trailer ! Stay Tuned!
18 Wheels of Christmas Saskatoon is excited to announce our calendar of events and locations where we will be for the 2015 season.
November 1st and November 7th we will be located at the Independent Grocery store located on Waneskewin road from 10:00am until 3:30pm. Along with collecting donations for the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre we will be selling raffle tickets for $1.00 to the public for a chance to win one of three gift cards; A $200.00 Keg gift card, $150.00 Canadian Brewhouse gift card or a $100.00 Tim Horton gift card.
November 15th we will partake in the 25th Annual Saskatoon Santa Claus Parade. We are encouraging the public to come down a little bit before the start of the parade to visit and to bring your nonperishable donations to the truck.
November 22nd we will be located at the Sobeys grocery store in Stonebridge selling raffle tickets and collecting donations.
On November 28th we will have the 18 Wheels of Christmas trailer on display at The Canadian Brewhouse - Saskatoon. We will be selling raffle tickets along with accepting donations.
During the week of December 1st to 4th we will be picking up the hampers that have been put together from various businesses to add to the collection of food for the Saskatoon Food Bank. If your company would like to put a hamper together
please contact us at (306) 244-7088 to speak with one of the 18 Wheels representatives.
On December 7th we will be making our final stop with the 18 Wheels of Christmas trailer at the Saskatoon Food Bank. We are hoping to have a trailer full of food and cash donations.
So it is now as I reflect what we were a
witness to today and on my own life, my heart is heavy. Growing up, we were never what you considered
a privileged family, but we never went without. Were things tight
sometimes? Absolutely, but we never went
without. My parents were always able to put food on the table, and we were
blessed.
