Cheer Board begins search for next seasonal home

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This article was published 29/12/2023 (641 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Christmas Cheer Board is homeless — again.

Winnipeg’s version of Santa’s workshop and grocery distribution centre has moved out of its most recent headquarters at 895 Century St. and is already scouting for new digs for its 2024 campaign.

It’s anything but an easy process. The Cheer Board needs a big chunk of space — space that’s cheap — and only for a short time (Oct. 1 to Jan. 1).

The not-for-profit organization is in the unenviable position of having to sign a lease for only three months, making it anything but the optimal renter for property managers.

It also requires a minimum of 30,000 square feet for all the behind-the-scenes activity that takes place to collect, store and distribute items for the thousands of holiday-season hampers for families in need.

“In the past, we’ve been able to secure the right space at the right time. But the commercial real estate landscape has changed so much and that type of space is very hard to come by,” said Cheer Board executive director Shawna Bell. “We have found ourselves moving every year. For the last three years, we’ve gone from space to space to space, depending on what’s available.

“If we haven’t got something by August, I get nervous.”

The organization doesn’t have much to spend, either.

“This year, we had to pay full rent for our space and that impacts our bottom line. And that’s a lot for an organization that tries to make every dollar go toward hampers and improving hampers each year,” Bell said.

For now, the Cheer Board’s equipment and supplies are being moved into donated storage trailers by a small group of volunteers.

In 2022, nearly 50,000 sq. ft. of donated space at the corner of Wellington Street and Berry Road was utilized.

“We’ve gotten a (financial) break in the past, but not this year. That’s just the way of the world right now,” Bell said.

It doesn’t make financial sense to sign a lease for longer than three to four months. The best-case scenario might be to partner with other not-for-profits on a long-term rental property, thereby splitting the costs.

“We had some thoughts where potentially we could put together a group of charities who are like us, and basically assist some landlord in having tenants year-round,” said Cheer Board chairman Jim Ketcheson. “Those who could use the space at certain times but not others. That’s not a scenario you can find easily.

“But hats off to Shawna. She has really embarked on a program of awareness of the board to other agencies, so she meets with all kinds of charities during the course of the year. There’s an infinite number of them who do things for people at various times of the year. What we’d really like to do is start the conversation and see who else has ideas that fit into this.”

There’s more to the wish list for a suitable property. It needs to be situated relatively close to the city centre, on a main bus route and have room for parking and loading.

“(The Century Street location) was fairly central. It had two loading docks, and it was accessible by bus, which is important to our (hamper) recipients,” Bell said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get to us.”

The Cheer Board reached historical numbers in terms of hamper requests (20,250 — almost 2,000 more than in 2022), leaving its cupboards bare.

Literally, not figuratively.

“We never want to turn people away, and we had to turn some people away because quite honestly we had nothing left to give,” Bell said.

“That’s never a position either myself or our volunteers ever want to find ourselves in. We’re here to help people and when we have to say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have anything.’ It’s not a nice way to end the season.”

The Cheer Board had planned to deliver on 19,000 applications in 2023.

Requests for help had to be declined as of Dec. 20, four days earlier than the phone lines were scheduled to shut down — a first in the Cheer Board’s long and storied 104-year history of giving.

“I actually had folks reaching out on Facebook who were asking if they could still apply on Christmas Eve, and I had to say no,” said Bell, who reflects on the 2023 campaign with mixed emotions.

“Last year, we had a few hundred hampers left over and we were able to work with (Winnipeg) Harvest and a couple of other local food banks and get some extra food out to them. That’s the ideal. When we can help beyond our season, then we feel successful.”

The Cheer Board has a $1.3-million operating budget this winter, its highest on record, but costs will likely surpass $1.5 million. That means the organization still needs help — and the Free Press Miracle on Mountain campaign is one way to do so.

The organization will send tax receipts in the mail to those who donate before the end of the year.

Ketcheson, a former Free Press night sports editor, has been with the board for about four years. He’s incredibly proud of what the organization accomplished this year.

“What we have to do every year is estimate the demand, and it’s so easy to underestimate in the current climate. It’s really astounding the need that we see in Winnipeg now,” he said. “So, we just have to be prepared.

“Every day and every year, to be honest, it’s an outstanding group. We hear from people each time we start the season, people that come back to us and say, ‘Hey, three or four years ago you gave us hope.’ It’s obvious we help turn the page for people, and when we hear that it gives us some gasoline in the tank to keep going.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca