Holly Jolly Breakfast, Fire vs. Flyer charity hockey game on that weekend
November is coming up fast, and the Winkler and District Christmas Cheerboard is heading into it with a bang.
Mayor Henry Siemens stopped by the committee’s meeting last week to sign a proclamation officially declaring November as Cheerboard Days in Winkler.
The Cheerboard will kick things off with a packed-full weekend Nov. 1-2, starting with the annual Holly Jolly Breakfast that Saturday.
“It’s at Central Station, 9 o’clock to 11,” shared president Crystal Rempel. “And it’s all by donation.”
That donation will get you a plate of pancakes, sausage, and juice or coffee to feast on as you enjoy holiday music from local performers.
“We’ll have a great lineup of entertainment,” Rempel said. “And we’ll have the firemen on hand to help us serve again and cook up the pancakes.”
Winkler’s firefighters will also be lending the Cheerboard a helping hand the next day, Sunday, at the annual Fire vs. Flyer Charity Classic.
The friendly game between fire crews and the Winkler Flyers junior hockey team will take place at the Meridian Exhibition Centre. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $2.
“We’ll have Waypoint Coffee on hand serving coffee and we’ll be selling popcorn and candy bags,” Rempel said. “And there will be raffle tickets for purchase for a bunch of great prizes that local businesses have supplied.”
The money raised that weekend will hopefully get the Cheerboard off to a good start on its goal of raising the approximately $150,000 needed to put together care hampers for families in need this Christmas.
“It’s a huge weekend for us,” said Rempel. “It really gets the community aware of us again and of the need in our community.
“People are so generous,” she added, “and we count on that generosity.”
Last year’s campaign distributed 418 hampers, and Rempel only expects that number to go up.
“We always plan for that. We know things haven’t gotten better in the last year with grocery prices continuing to go up,” she said
Each hamper includes grocery gift cards and vouchers to local stores as well as gifts for any children in the household—toys for younger kids and gift cards for teenagers. They’ll be distributed on Dec. 10, just in time for the holidays.
If you can’t make the Nov. 1-2 events, you still have plenty of other opportunities to support the Cheerboard in the weeks ahead.
The Winkler Tim Hortons will be selling its Holiday Smile Cookie for a week in mid-November, with proceeds going to the hamper program.
And for the entire last two weeks of the month, the Winkler Co-op grocery store will be accepting donations at the till for the Cheerboard.
Plans are also in the works at the Winkler Senior Centre to host one of their congregate breakfasts in support of the campaign in early December.
And, as always, you can make a donation to the Cheerboard directly through its website: winklercheerboard.com.
Many of the families receiving hampers this year will be referred to the program through local social services, but Cheerboard reps will also be at Central Station (555 Main St.) every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. to help people without a referral fill out an application.
“We’ll be there with bells on,” Rempel said. “So they won’t be able to miss us.”
And if you’d like to get involved as a Cheerboard volunteer, stop by the Holly Jolly Breakfast or the charity hockey game and speak with any of the existing board members.
“We’d love to have a conversation with you,” Rempel said. “We won’t turn away good help.”
As busy as it can be through November and December, the entire campaign is an incredibly rewarding one to be a part of, she shared.
“I enjoy being a part of the community and meeting all the people, and being the hands and feet of Jesus here in our community.”
