Staff Writer

ONEONTA — The Canadian Pacific Railway's Holiday Train will pass through Oneonta next week to collect food bank donations for the Otsego County area.

Each decorated with 8,000 Christmas lights, two of the railway's Holiday Trains — a U.S. train and a Canadian train — are traveling through six provinces and seven states on voyages to raise money and awareness for North American food banks.

The United States Holiday Train is scheduled to arrive in Oneonta at the Gas Avenue crossing, near Neahwa Park, on Tuesday at about 10 p.m., according to CP Rail officials.

People are encouraged to meet the train with food or money donations that will go toward feeding Otsego County families in need, said Stephen Pindar, Emergency Services manager for Opportunities for Otsego, which runs the county's Community Connections Food Bank.

Food distribution is supposed to take place between 10:15 and 10:45 p.m.

"This couldn't come at a better time of year," Pindar said. "OFO operates a holiday basket program at this time of year, and — from the applications so far — we believe the number of baskets needed will be more than ever before."

Last year, Community Connections made up 600 food baskets for needy families.

Pindar said Community Connections will take in what is collected at the train and will distribute it to the county's 20 food pantries and four feeding sites. Some of what is collected will also go toward the holiday basket program, added Pindar, who will be at the train Tuesday night.

The U.S. holiday train begins in Scranton, Pa., on Tuesday and will continue through Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan.

The Canadian train starts outside Toronto on Dec. 5 and visits dozens of communities on its 16-day journey to the West Coast.

Thousands lined the 2001 Holiday Train route to contribute record amounts of food and cash to food banks, which face their highest demand during the Christmas season, CP Rail officials said.

Between 2000 and 2001, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 23 percent in American cities, with 54 percent of requests coming from families with children, according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors report on hunger and homelessness.

Pindar said this is the first year a Holiday Train will pass through Oneonta, adding that the train is an excellent way to raise public awareness about hunger.