Huron Carole unites community

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This article was published 14/12/2019 (2289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the early snow, lack of sun and brutal cold snap have all but snuffed out your holiday spirit, Canadian actor, singer and activist Tom Jackson has a suggestion to increase your festive feelings: the Huron Carole.

The annual touring musical production is in Winnipeg tonight at My Church, 955 Wilkes Ave., bringing with it a collection of award-winning musicians including Tom McKillip, Darryl Havers, John MacArthur Ellis, Kirby Barber and Chris (The Wrist) Nordquist, who will perform alongside Jackson as he tells stories and offers up a selection of “contemporary and signature” holiday music.

“What we’ve discovered over the 10 or 11 shows that we’ve done so far is that people leave the theatre aglow,” says Jackson, 71.

“We’re really pleased that not only are we able to help those who are desperately in need in the cities we go to, and of course Winnipeg is near and dear to my heart, but that we get also to give ourselves a gift from the stage. I can tell you that when people come to the show, whatever state of mind they’re in, while they’re in the theatre, peace, joy and compassion is ours, it actually manifests itself in that room. There’s nothing that can take that away from us.”

The Huron Carole — named after Canada’s oldest Christmas carol, also called Twas in the Moon of Wintertime — began in 1987 in Toronto as a way to raise funds to buy food for a cultural agency in the area. A couple years later, Jackson was back in Winnipeg (where he spent some of his youth) and heard Winnipeg Harvest was struggling to pay rent at its St. Boniface location. Again, he hosted a similar event to help the organization out.

In the more than 30 years since, the benefit concerts (now dubbed the Huron Carole) have raised more than $200 million for food banks across the country — much-needed funds for organizations that continue to see an increase in usage. According to the annual Hunger Count report from Food Banks Canada, more than 80,000 Manitobans have visited a food bank in 2019, more than 40 per cent of whom are children, a stat that also applies nationally.

“The numbers are astounding when you look at the need the food banks fill. And the fact that more than 40 per cent of the people that use food banks are children. So when you engage with us, you’re engaging in an investment in the future of our country, of our community, of our world. Because if we don’t protect our children, the future is pretty bleak, but if we look into the eyes of our children and realize how brilliant most children are, that investment is our future,” Jackson says.

“There’s always been a gap between the haves and the have-nots, and that’s not going to change, so our job is to narrow the gap and be the Band-Aid. A lot of people have had small criticisms to suggest that what we’re doing is somebody else’s job, meaning that having a food bank is a Band-Aid to a larger problem. Well, yes, it is. But let’s just do what we know how to do, let us be the Band-Aid, and others have to figure out the answers to the bigger problems. And let’s allow ourselves to celebrate in the fact that our community cares about our community.”

In addition to the tour, Jackson is also releasing Six Weeks to Christmas, a series of six music videos that contain calls to action that ask viewers to seek out those in our communities who need compassion, kindness and help and to do what we can to meet those needs. The live show also offers similar inspiration.

“If you’ve lost that spark, then it’s important for you to come to this show,” Jackson says.

“It’s important for that spark to become a flame, and for that flame to become a fire, and for that fire to become an inferno, and for that inferno to be a fury in your heart. That’s what we’re always here to be and to do. Some of us don’t have a vehicle by which to accomplish that. The Huron Carole can be your vehicle, so don’t miss the bus.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel