It’s my 3rd and final (more on that later!) year of being a part of Pan Pacific Vancouver’s amazing Christmas Wish Breakfast! And I recruited some of my influencer friends to help out on our big 30th anniversary on December 13.
Every year, the Pan Pacific Vancouver holds one of Canada’s largest and most epic toy drives. Vancouverites are invited to come down and donate a new, unwrapped toy to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau, and as a thank you, the hotel provides a complimentary, hot breakfast on the house.
My influencers and I stayed over at the hotel because of the insanely early call time of 530am (!) even though it was hella early, it’s worth it seeing all the donations being dropped off and the Vancouver fire department volunteers stacking those donations up into what would become a two-story high “toy mountain.”
Along with a hot breakfast, entertainment was provided by the Good Noise Gospel Choir, Langley Ukelele Ensemble and The Showstoppers, while our media partners, Global BC and Rock 101 were on-site and broadcasted live.
Some pics:
What a great way to kick off the holiday season! This year’s breakfast was by far the most fun, thanks to my amazing social media crew!
This year’s Christmas Wish Breakfast rocked last year’s event, setting yet another new record. Here are the final numbers:
More than 24 tonnes of toys were collected, $25,000 in cash donations and gift cards were received, over 600 bikes were donated by Dominion Lending Centres and a whopping $65,000 cheque received from the Vancouver Firefighters Charitable Society and London Drugs – all in the span of 3 hours!
And big (and bittersweet) news! My contract with Pan Pacific comes to a close this month. It’s been a great 2 1/2 years. I’ve enjoyed live tweeting 3 Canada Day celebrations, 3 Christmas Wish Breakfasts and all the various events in between.
Last but not least, a happy surprise for our 30th anniversary! The city of Vancouver has proclaimed all future Christmas Wish Breakfasts as an official day in Vancouver! Not a bad way to go out.
View more photos on my Flickr album. For all the Twitter coverage, check out my Twitter moments. Get the recap on the Global BC website.
Top photo credit: Ryan Decorby
Social media crew photos credit: Ryan Decorby, John Biehler + Kimli
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