Cheer Board suspends all hamper applications for first time ever

With demand at an all-time high, Winnipeg’s Christmas Cheer Board will no longer take applications for hampers this year.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Cheer Board had reached 20,250 hamper applications, which is 2,000 more than a year ago. And the organization says it has become impossible to keep up.

“Earlier in December we placed additional orders for food in the hopes it would be enough to get us through the season,” said board chairperson Jim Ketcheson. “It’s finally come to a point where our budget just cannot bear the demand we are seeing.”

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It’s the first time in its more than 100-year history that the Cheer Board has stopped taking hamper applications. Call centres were supposed to remain open until Christmas Eve, but closed Wednesday.

The warehouse on 895 Century Street will remain open until Dec. 24 for deliveries and pickups of hamper applications that have already been placed.

The organization says it has been receiving around 500 calls a day and anticipates more than 1500 people will now miss out on a hamper this year.