Christmas Cheer Board

Since 1919, Winnipeg’s beloved Christmas Cheer Board has been helping families during the holiday season. They deliver food hampers, wrapped gifts, and other necessities to families in need. Every year, the organization is filled with the Christmas spirit by the hundreds of volunteers who donate their valuable time by preparing hampers and wrapping gifts. Moreover, many of the same volunteers field thousands of calls from people either seeking assistance or offering to help in one way or another.

In 2021, Winnipeg’s Christmas Cheer Board delivered over 16,000 hampers and over 25,000 toys to families in need! In doing so, the staff and volunteers answered over 100,000 phone calls in two months!

Shawna Bell, executive director of the Cheer Board, knew early in 2020 that their current phone system would no longer be adequate. The Cheer Board used an old Centrex phone system that required re-installing every year and was very expensive. Shawna knew the old system would not keep up with the high number of daily calls experienced in the two months leading up to Christmas. She needed a new system that would work effectively and function seamlessly but was less expensive.

Shawna also loved Telexperts’ flexible rental program. This program enables an organization such as The Christmas Cheer Board to turn off 90% of the system from February through October without losing any numbers or programming. Bell says that during these months, “we still use Telexperts cloud system to answer calls, but at a fraction of the cost of what they are during the holiday season. Turning the entire system on in November is simple, thanks to their supportive IT services and team.”