Holiday Train Raises Big Donations for PRISM

When the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train stops in a city, people donate either food or money to charity. The Golden Valley stop helped benefit PRISM, which operates a food shelf and other services for people in need.

“You don’t see anything like this otherwise during the year,” said Michelle Ness of PRISM. “It’s got lights on the outside. There’s a band that plays.”

PRISM Grateful

Ness and the folks at PRISM are grateful that the holiday train rolled through Golden Valley Tuesday. The nonprofit collected a few hundred pounds of food.

 “That is a tremendous help to us,” Ness said. “We are seeing anywhere from 50 to 100 people coming through our door for food shelf assistance in any one day.”

Ness points out that hunger in the northwest suburbs is indeed real.

“Clearly the need is there.” Ness said. “We’re hitting record numbers every single month in the food shelf. Last month we had over 900 families come through.”

Holiday Train is Win-Win

The holiday train is truly a win-win scenario, says Ness. The scene is festive and the holiday spirit comes alive when the train rolls down the tracks. It’s a chance for people to have fun and also give back.

For PRISM this is another opportunity to make sure no one goes hungry.

“We have lots of folks who are struggling financially with the holidays, wanting to cook to make sure there is plenty of warm food on these cold nights,” said Ness.

The CP Holiday Train will stop in over two dozen Minnesota towns.

Golden Valley