Giving Beyond Christmas Eve

With the help of our major sponsors, X-Cues Cafe and Billiards, Sorrento's restaurant on Ellice and West End BIZ, as well as dozens of donors and over 50 volunteers, the Christmas Eve Feast puts smiles on the faces of many families from the West End.

In some past years, our donors have been so generous, we have had surplus funds.  As funds donated are targeted to children in the West End, surplus funds are targeted to organizations that serve these same children.

In 2016, we had no surplus funds, but in 2014 and 2015 we put the surplus donations to work in the community by donating to the Winnipeg Boys and Girls Club.

In past years, we have donated to the Children's Hospital, just a few blocks away from our venue at X-Cues.  Over the years, donations to the Children's Hospital have included:

• Boxes of toys, valued at over $1,000
• a dishwasher for their play room - to wash toys between use,
  
• MacBook laptop - for their music program,
  
• a flat screen TV - for a waiting room,
  
• an iPad - for use by children who cannot leave their room.

The story behind the "boxes of toys" illustrates how the community has joined together to make great things happen.  In 2012, we approached Reneé Ethans, Manager, Child Life Dept. at the Children's Hospital to understand their needs and received an 8 page list of toys that the children like, that are safe and work well in the hospital environment.