After securing a new venue over the weekend, CTV News has learned the Christmas Cheer breakfast has secured a sponsorship to cover the cost of hosting the event.
The popular breakfast was abruptly cancelled late last week for the first time in 68 years, after organizers announced they could not secure a venue.
On Monday night, CTV News learned Lockheed Martin Canada is contributing $20,000. The Shaw Centre, announced over the weekend as the new venue by Nepean MPP and Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, will provide the other half of the funding. The long-standing event will take place on Friday, December 6th.
MacLeod says Air Canada has also stepped up with prizes for the breakfast. The news means all money raised at the breakfast will now go back into the community.
“This will be the best Christmas Cheer in Ottawa’s history because the community came together to save it” said MacLeod. “Many hands make light work and in less than 48 hours community leaders, media and institutions rallied together to support Christmas Cheer! I couldn’t be more proud and grateful to be part of this rebirth of an iconic Ottawa tradition” she said.
The Christmas Cheer breakfast has been running in the city in various forms since 1951. For several decades it has also run in conjunction with a live fundraising broadcast on 580 CFRA.
Dave Watts, former Promotion Manager now freelance CFRA broadcaster, ran promotions for the event when it first started. He said local businesses would often contribute and he hopes to see some step up again for 2019.
"There is a need in this marketplace, there are so many benefactors from the good work of Christmas Cheer so it would be a shame to see them struggle or have ongoing difficulties because of the breakfast not happening," Watts said.
The Ottawa Food Bank is one local charity that rlies on the funding from Christmas Cheer for the holidays.
"We provide 25,000 Christmas meals over the Holiday season, in addition to the 39,000 people we already help, so this is an important fundraiser," said Michael Maidment, the Executive Director with the Ottawa Food Bank.
Christmas Cheer has its website back up where information on ticket sales is available.
"We are delighted to announce that thanks to MPP Lisa MacLeod and Shaw Centre, the Christmas Cheer Breakfast is back on for 2019," it says online.
Over nearly 70 years the Christmas Cheer Breakfast has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various local charities like the Ottawa Food Bank and Youth Services Bureau.
For years the breakfast was held at the Westin before switching to Lansdowne Park in 2018.
