Leona Green is using her new electric train as a vehicle for raising funds to help the community of Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
Green, owner of Greens and Beans Deli in Sapperton, is holding Train Day on Saturday, Sept. 14.
"I am putting in a train," she said about her Sapperton deli. "I have an electric train - it is going to run along the inside and deliver lunch."
Green has been planning an event to celebrate the arrival of the train delivery system and discussed the idea with her friend Coun. Lorrie Williams.
"Lorrie and I got to talking about making it a fundraiser because that is what I do," she said.
Green is celebrating the train's arrival by holding a fundraiser for Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where a train rolled down a hill and several tankers carrying crude oil derailed and exploded. Forty-seven people perished in the July 6 tragedy and portions of the town's downtown were destroyed.
"Canadian cities should help each other," Green said.
New Westminster is the home of artist Max Jacquiard, who is considered to be "the Robert Bateman of trains" in the art world, and he agreed to donate one of his prints to the fundraiser. People will get a raffle ticket with each $5 donation, and the lucky winner will be selected Dec. 7.
"The day of the fundraiser, we are donating the proceeds of all the soup," Green said. "Soup is what I do."
Through the years, Green has raised funds to help causes such as the Royal City Humane Society, New Westminster junior and intermediate A Salmonbellies, and relief efforts after a tsunami hit Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina. During a fundraiser for tsunami relief, Greens and Beans Deli sold 710 bowls of soup and raised $5,100; one person paid $50 for a bowl of soup at that event.
Cards featuring Jacquiard's artwork will also be sold at the Sept. 14 fundraiser. Raffle tickets are now being sold at Greens and Beans Deli, which is also collecting donations for Lac-Megantic in a jar on the counter.
"We have never taken tips," Green noted. "It's all for charity."
Williams suggested Mayor Wayne Wright could contact the mayor of Lac-Megantic to see if there's anything specific that the funds raised in New Westminster could go toward.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy noted that communities in Canada helped New Westminster after its Great Fire of 1898.
"Other cities in B.C. and Canada stepped up to provide relief, provide trainloads of supplies," he said.
The Friends of Lac-Megantic fundraiser is being held at Greens and Beans Deli on Saturday, Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the ribbon cutting of the lunch train taking place at 11 a.m. The deli is located at 143 East Columbia St.
