I watched the special on CSX’s Santa Train that aired on Great American Country over the weekend and it was amazing. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do.

I am extremely proud to say that Kids Wish Network was a part of this wonderful endeavor to help the children and families in the Appalachian Mountains. I am especially proud of Ashley, who was lucky enough to have been the KWN representative on the Santa Train. She did an amazing job helping out and putting a very happy face to the KWN name; in fact, everyone involved with the Santa Train did an awesome job.

There is nothing quite like that special feeling you get when you know that something you’ve done has gone towards helping children; with the Santa Train, over 5,000 children were given something to smile about for the holiday season when they might have had nothing. We at Kids Wish Network are very proud to have been a part of this event.

Shelley Breiner
Executive Director

Wow, where do I start? What an amazing adventure! I am still on a high from the whole experience! I had planned on blogging every day when away, but this didn’t work out because I had far too much to do there. So, I’m going to try and give you a daily synopsis and hopefully get across the excitement, enthusiasm and magic I experienced during the four days I spent with a lot of really wonderful people.

Day 1: Food City in Kingsport, Tennessee

Following an early flight, I finally arrived in Kingsport, Tennessee. What an amazing sight to see when we pulled into the car park at their local Food City. All I could see was mountains of toys, our toys! This packing event has been a tradition in these parts for many years now and they knew exactly what they were doing. What wonderful people! To the “uneducated eye” it might appear chaotic but boy did they have a system going. We packed 5,000 gift bags for boys and girls in approx. 3 hours. I felt so proud to see all the wonderful toys that KWN donated being packed into these Santa Train Gift Bags.

People were constantly thanking me, as the KWN representative, and complimenting us on the size of our donation and the wonderful variety of quality toys this year. Jamie from Food City, who has been involved in this event for the past seven years, said that donations were so low this year that without our donation, they would have been in big trouble. Apart from packing toys, Food City also had volunteers packing their donated food items for the train. There were a lot of smiles and laughter and everywhere there was an overall “feel good” atmosphere. It was dark when we finally came up for air after the job was done. It was an amazing thing to see everyone come together for this wonderful holiday tradition with a common goal: to reach out to the less fortunate, in particular the children and families of the Appalachians, and make their holidays a little brighter.

Stay tuned for Day 2…

Ashley
Distribution Department

Well, the big day is very close now and I am super excited!! It is the 67th year of the CSX Santa Train and I get to go on it! How lucky am I??? This train ride has become a very memorable tradition for the many families living in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s an early Christmas for them or, in a lot of cases, their ONLY Christmas. The train runs from Kentucky down through West Virginia and into Tennessee. It is packed with 15 tons of goodies, toys and gifts. Kids Wish Network packed and sent 11 pallets of toys, games, plush etc. to CSX and we are so happy to be involved in such a caring cause and wonderful project. We get to reach out to a lot of children and that is, after all, what we do best!!!

The actual train ride will be on Saturday, but my fun starts tomorrow with a 7a.m. flight from Tampa to Tennessee. There, I will meet up with the CSX people and from then on it’s a pretty hectic schedule. I’ve been told we will be sorting toys and packing 5,000 goodie bags on Wednesday night in preparation for the train ride. This is a huge volunteer event and it will be held outside the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce from 5-9 p.m.

I have never been to this part of the country before, which makes it even more fun. In fact, I’m actually looking forward to some nice cold weather and I mean real cold weather, my Florida friends. Not 60º. LOL

I’ll keep you posted so stay tuned…

Ashley
Distribution Department

OMG! I am so excited to announce that Kids Wish Network has been chosen as the Charity of Choice for CSX! Kids Wish will literally be “Santa’s little helper” while participating in The Santa Train event, and it’s such an honor!

The Santa Train is an annual event that goes through the Appalachian Mountains where volunteers from Kingsport, TN take tons of gifts, toys and food to needy families in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Did you know that The Santa Train is the world’s largest Santa Parade, which is 110 miles en route?

I am so honored to be able to part of this huge event. I promise to keep everyone posted as the event draws near, so keep watching for my blogs!!!

Barbara
Director of Distribution