Our second annual Christmas in July event presented by Enbridge on July 12th at the Fallowfield Transit Station was a great success raising close to $2,500 for the Christmas Exchange. A fun time was had by all including many of the local politicians and VIPs who came out to help serve breakfast to the early morning bus commuters. To read more about the event Click here. To view more photos, click on the above photo.

The popular children's storybook character Thomas the Tank Engine will be in Ottawa August 17, 18, 19 and 24, 25, 26 at the Ottawa Central Railway, 3141 Albion Road South. Bring your kids, grandkids or come aboard yourself and take a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine and have your picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt. There will be plenty of onsite activities for the whole family to enjoy including Thomas & Friends storytelling, a viewing station for Thomas & Friends videos, temporary tattoos, and an Imagination Station. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Christmas Cheer Fund charities. For information and tickets, click here

The Christmas Exchange is urgently looking for volunteers to help at this event. If you can help, please contact Sui-Ling Leung at 613- 226-6434, ext 226 or email at smxmas@storm.ca

The Annual General Meeting and Volunteer Reception was held on June 7, 2007 at a different venue this year - the RA Centre on Riverside Drive. This location made it much easier for attendees taking public transportation to attend. An added feature at this year's AGM was a silent auction where many people went away with some great auction items donated by local businesses and sponsors.

It was reported that once again Christmas Exchange was able to help everyone who was referred to receive assistance in 2006. In his speech to the meeting, President David Martin stated that since the founding of the Christmas Exchange 91 years ago, there has been an almost steady increase in the numbers of persons and families needing help and he saw no end to this trend. He went on to say, "What it means, however, is that the job of coordinating help by duplicate checking has grown, and the technology to be able to handle the volume has become quite complex. I believe that by adopting the Internet-based data system that we have achieved the best solution to meeting this challenge for the foreseeable future. The fact that we have been able to incorporate the needs of the Salvation Army Toy program is an added bonus. More services could be added - it only needs imagination!" Our thanks to Paul Barbeau and his team at HyperNet for the design and development of the new web-based database.

In her address to the meeting, Executive Director Marilyn Matheson drew attention to the quotes from some of the many thank you notes received this past year. She went on to say that the help Christmas Exchange provided "met so much, and touched [the recipients] so much to know that someone cared, that they took the time to write and tell us." "People like 'Lorna' who wrote to thank us for giving her the means to have a Christmas dinner of chicken, vegetables and apple pie. While we might have the means to have a meal like this every week, Lorna may not. And without a meal like this, she might not have felt that she was able to take part in the celebrations of the holidays. And people like 'John and Mary' who wrote to say that we gave them the means to enjoy Christmas with their children and grandchildren."

The Annual Meeting also saw the elections of a new Executive Committee and Board of Directors. To view the list, please click here. If you would like a hard copy of the annual report, please contact us and we will gladly send one to you.

For those of you who attended our Annual Meeting and Volunteer Reception and received a thank you gift supplied by Green Thumb Garden Centre, please note that there was a problem with the plant labelled as 'Borage'. The attached picture is of the plant that was labelled borage but is not. Although we are not quite sure what this plant is, we do know that it is not borage so to be on the safe side, please don't eat it. Green Thumb has apologized for the error, and if you would like to exchange your mislabelled plant for borage they would be more then happy to take your plant back.

A meeting will be held for all agencies that either provide assistance or refer clients to be assisted by Christmas Exchange for food, or toys from the Salvation Army Toy Centre during the holiday season. This meeting will be on Wednesday, September 12th from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at Rideau Park United Church, 2203 Alta Vista Drive. Complimentary breakfast of coffee, juice and pastries will be provided. Please register by September 7 so we know how much food to order. If there are any items or concerns you would like to discuss at the meeting, please let us know by emailing merryxmas@storm.ca or calling 613 226- 6434

The 7th Annual Ottawa's Biggest Bake Sale presented by TD Canada Trust will be held on Saturday, October 6th at Fourth Avenue Baptist Church, 109A Fourth Ave (corner of Bank St. and Fourth Ave.) in the Glebe. This popular and much anticipated event raises money for the Christmas Exchange and participating churches and community organizations who will be selling delicious baked goodies that you can take home to enjoy with your Thanksgiving dinner. Admission is free but donations of non-perishable food items for the Ottawa Food Bank will be gratefully accepted at the door.

If your church or community group is interested in participating in the Bake Sale, please contact the Christmas Exchange office at 613-226-6434 or email merryxmas@storm.ca.

We also need raffle items for this event. If you are able to help out with a donation, please give us a call.


To view bake sale photos from 2006.

For other upcoming events, visit our Events page on our website.

The Christmas Exchange is always in need of volunteers so if you have some spare time and would like to help, please contact us. Volunteer opportunities that are available include helping at special events such as the Bake Sale, Running on Empties, Trees of Hope; the school program Pennies for Portions; general office work - data entry, mailing, answering and making phone calls and scheduling appointments; preparing and delivering food hampers; and general fundraising activities.

This is also a good opportunity for students to complete their 40 hours of community volunteer service in order to graduate from high school. If you have a child, grandchild, niece or nephew, let them know that we can help them achieve their volunteer hours commitment. The hours are flexible and they'll get to meet some interesting people.

Call Sui-Ling Leung at 613-226-6434 ext 226, or e-mail at smxmas@storm.ca for further information or to sign up as a volunteer.

How many children aged 12 and under did Christmas Exchange refer last year to the Salvation Army Toy Centre?

1. 15,275
2. 11,508
3. 10,860
4. 12,970