Kansas City Southern Announces 20th Anniversary Holiday Express Fundraising Results to Benefit Salvation Army in 20 Communities
December 21 2020 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Kansas City Southern (KCS) (NYSE: KSU) announced today that the
20th anniversary KCS Holiday Express program in partnership with
The Salvation Army has raised over $277,000 to benefit The
Salvation Army in 20 communities on its U.S. rail network. Those
communities include Kansas City, Joplin and Mexico, Mo.; Beaumont,
Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, Laredo and Port Arthur, Texas;
Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport and Westlake, La.; Gulfport,
Jackson and Vicksburg, Miss.; Decatur, Ark.; East St. Louis, Ill.;
Pittsburg, Kan.; and Heavener, Okla.
“The Salvation Army tells us that the need has always been
there, and this year, it’s greater than ever, which is why I’m so
pleased that the KCS is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the
Holiday Express project by supporting The Salvation Army in 20
communities on our rail network,” said KCS president and CEO
Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. “The KCS Holiday Express project, combined
with gifts earlier in the year to United Way for COVID relief,
gifts to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief, and donations
of medical equipment in Mexico, bring KCS’ charitable giving for
2020 to well over $1 million for these efforts combined.”
Special thanks to our major KCS Holiday Express sponsors,
including Bartlett, a Savage Company; Deanne Porter and Patrick
Ottensmeyer Family Foundation; Elkay Manufacturing; Kansas City
Southern Historical Society; Lockton Companies; Lynn and Michael
Upchurch; Michael and Marlys Haverty Family Foundation; The Kansas
City Southern Charitable Fund; Virginia Vollrath Hertenstein;
Wabtec Corporation; Watco Companies; and Wilkinson, Carmody &
Gilliam. A complete list of sponsors can be seen here on the KCS
website.
Over 20 years, the charitable component of the KCS Holiday
Express project has raised well over $2.3 million, which was
donated to The Salvation Army at each scheduled train stop to help
provide warm clothing and other necessities for children in need in
the local community.
In each of the past 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 will not take place in
2020 due to the pandemic.
The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa
Train that 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 the past 19 years. In
2020, we honor one of the founding volunteer elves, Tillie Caileff,
who was integral to the program’s success, and who passed away
earlier this year.
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/20201221005215/en/
C. Doniele Carlson, 816-983-1372 dcarlson@kcsouthern.com
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