21st Anniversary KCS Holiday Express to Benefit The Salvation Army in 21 Communities
September 13 2021 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Kansas City Southern (KCS) (NYSE: KSU) announced today that it
will celebrate the 21st anniversary of its KCS Holiday Express
program and partnership with The Salvation Army with a fundraiser
to benefit the Salvation Army in 21 communities on its U.S. rail
network. Due to the ongoing pandemic, KCS will not operate its
Holiday Express train, which traditionally draws large crowds in
free, public events.
“KCS is pleased to celebrate 21 years of Holiday Express
benefiting The Salvation Army in communities throughout our U.S.
rail network,” said KCS president and CEO Patrick J. Ottensmeyer.
“While it’s still not safe to gather for visits with Santa and
tours through the train, the true stars of the show are The
Salvation Army and the work it does all year round.”
“In this pandemic, the fastest increasing area of need is for
families who will be unable to pay their rent or mortgages and face
eviction. The donations The Salvation Army will receive through the
KCS Holiday Express will keep families in their homes and keep hope
marching on for them into 2022,” said Major Kelly Collins,
divisional commander of The Salvation Army Kansas and Western
Missouri Division.
The 21 communities that will receive the funds raised for The
Salvation Army include Kansas City and Slater, Mo.; East St. Louis,
Ill.; Pittsburg, Kan.; Ashdown and Mena, Ark.; Poteau and Stilwell,
Okla.; Houston, Laredo, Port Arthur, Victoria and Wylie, Texas;
Baton Rouge, DeQuincy, Gonzalez and Shreveport, La.; and Corinth,
Jackson, Meridian and Vicksburg, Miss.
Over 20 years, the charitable component of the KCS Holiday
Express project has raised well over $2.6 million. Anyone
interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the 2021 KCS
Holiday Express fundraising campaign may do so at
https://donate.salarmymokan.org/KCSHolidayExpress2021.
The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa
Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997.
In 2000, a group of warm-hearted KCS employees noticed that the
Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some
kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so
they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers
transformed a retired freight train to the KCS Holiday Express
experience that thousands have enjoyed for 19 years.
In the first 19 years, the KCS Holiday Express train stopped in
20 or more communities in five or six states between Thanksgiving
and Christmas. At each stop, visitors could board the train, meet
Santa and his elves and tour the inside of three cars of the
festive six-car train. These events did not take place in 2020 and
will not take place in 2021 due to the pandemic.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., KCS is a transportation
holding company that has railroad investments in the U.S., Mexico
and Panama. Its primary U.S. holding is The Kansas City Southern
Railway Company, serving the central and south-central U.S. Its
international holdings include Kansas City Southern de Mexico, S.A.
de C.V., serving northeastern and central Mexico and the port
cities of Lázaro Cárdenas, Tampico and Veracruz, and a 50 percent
interest in Panama Canal Railway Company, providing ocean-to-ocean
freight and passenger service along the Panama Canal. KCS’ North
American rail holdings and strategic alliances with other North
American rail partners are primary components of a unique railway
system, linking the commercial and industrial centers of the U.S.,
Mexico and Canada.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005483/en/
C. Doniele Carlson, 816-983-1372, dcarlson@kcsouthern.com
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