The board of directors for the Westman and Area Traditional Christmas Dinner are excited to announce a meaningful partnership for the betterment of our community. Since 1985 The Traditional Christmas Dinner has been offering fellowship and a meal on Christmas Day to those who may otherwise go without. As we approach the 2023 edition of the Traditional Dinner, there are a few events where the WTCD will join forces with the Helping Hands Centre of Brandon.
The first major event to help raise awareness and support for both organizations will be the Halloween Howl in Harvest Hall. The event will run on Saturday, October 28th from 2pm – 4pm in the Brandon University’s cafeteria aka Harvest Hall. People of all ages are welcome to don their Halloween costume and stop by to enjoy a hot dog, drink, and bag of chips for a $5.00 donation. Proceeds will go toward the Traditional Christmas Dinner. There will be prizes for best costumes in three different age categories as well as a prize for best carved pumpkin. There will be FREE candy available for all contestants in the pumpkin carving contest as well as for those who show up in costume. There will be an opportunity for pumpkin carvers to take a picture of their creations and post them online. Watch the Helping Hands and Westman and Area Traditional Christmas Dinner Facebook pages for more details.
The two organizations share the same purpose albeit on a different level however there’s a synergy that works so well together as they both serve the community. Upon releasing the announcement Helping Hands Chairperson Andrea Epp said, “We’ve always had a symbiotic relationship with the Traditional Christmas Dinner, so it only makes sense that we become official partners in providing a warm atmosphere and a good meal to the people of Brandon and Westman on Christmas Day. We are very excited about the new partnership and look forward to what our groups can accomplish together.”
Though Helping Hands and the Traditional Christmas Dinner have intermixed on a volunteer level, this is the first year the two organizations have officially joined forces for this great cause. Gladden Smith a community advocate who has spearheaded the Traditional Christmas Dinner for the past 35 years said, “This going to be such a great relationship not only for both organizations but also for the community as well.”
The next event these two organizations will team up for is the toy drive collection booth that will be set up at Brandon’s Walmart location in the Corral Centre. The two organizations will be set up November 17 – 19th and November 24 – 26 as well as, December 2,3, 9 & 10th inside of the main entrance of Walmart where they’ll be accepting donations of new unwrapped toys as well as food and cash donations for Helping Hands as well as the Traditional Christmas Dinner.
