Reservists deliver Christmas cheer
Parcel Push distributes hampers and season's greetings to city's less fortunate
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/12/2018 (1930 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Canadian Army reservists deployed to the streets of Winnipeg on Saturday, delivering vital holiday supplies across the city in the form of about 500 hampers containing food and toys from the Winnipeg Christmas Cheer Board.
It’s a continuation of a 34-year-long tradition that helps Winnipeg’s less fortunate celebrate the season, said Lt.-Col. Dave Koltun, commanding officer of the Fort Garry Horse. Reservists from the armoured reconnaissance unit were joined by reservists with 38 Combat Engineer Regiment for the day’s deliveries.
Lt.-Col. Koltun said the exercise, called “Parcel Push,” is especially important since Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry moved away from Winnipeg to CFB Shilo in 2004, because it shows “there’s still an army presence in Winnipeg through the army reserves.”
“They get out, and they get to help their fellow citizen, and the civilian population gets a chance to see them,” said Lt.-Col. Koltun as he watched his soldiers load up light military vehicles with hampers at the Colonel Harcus Strachan VC MC Armoury on Machray Avenue (formerly the McGregor Armoury).
“And the soldiers will talk to people when they’re delivering the hampers, they get a lot thumbs up and things from the local folks when they see them,” said Lt.-Col. Koltun.
“It’s just a great fit. We’re doing something positive for the community, and we’re actually getting out there and letting people know we exist.”
Not long after, two of Lt.-Col. Koltun’s reservists set off from the armoury in an army G-Wagon, a militarized Mercedes Benz SUV. Cpl. Patrick Pantel and 2nd Lt. Wyatt Bellisle were on a mission to deliver hampers to a public housing building on Dufferin Avenue.
“It feels really good,” said 2nd Lt. Bellisle, a full-time student at the University of Manitoba.
“You get to go help people who are a little bit less fortunate than us.”
“After you do those first deliveries, you see the look on peoples’ faces, and you’re like, man, this is pretty sweet,” said Cpl. Pantel, who works as an accountant when he’s not on reserve duty.
“So it’s a really great perk of being with the Fort Garry Horse.”
As the soldiers made their deliveries throughout the building, a steady stream of residents came up to them to ask if their hampers were on the list.
Most of them would have to wait for deliveries later in the day, but resident Tammy Jackson was lucky enough to be in the first round. Jackson said she’s been receiving Christmas Cheer Board hampers for about 18 years, and most of her neighbours on the floor get them too, she said.
“They really help, and I’m really grateful for them,” said Jackson, who explained that the hampers give Winnipeggers like her access to food that they couldn’t otherwise afford.
“You could get a turkey or a ham, rice, cookies, flour — flour’s very expensive,” Jackson said, adding that she’s “actually very surprised” about the hamper deliveries from the Christmas Cheer Board.
“Most people don’t really care about other folk, you know?” she said.
“And these people just come together once a year and help out people that don’t have so much. And if you go anywhere else, mostly they don’t do this — I’ve been all over Canada, and I haven’t seen what I’ve seen in Winnipeg,” Jackson said.
“Even though Winnipeg sucks, there are people in it that really do care for the poor.”
solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca
@sol_israel