Sharon Sanford and Christine Baidoo had never heard of the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train and didn’t know the show was coming to their towns to benefit their food shelves. But both will take every morsel of food and every penny of cash the festive charity train can generate.

“People are losing jobs or they’re working, but they’re not working the same number of hours,” said Baidoo, director of the Neighborhood Service Center in Waseca, which operates the food shelf for all of Waseca County. “... A lot of new first-time users.”

It’s the same story for Sanford, the executive director of the New Ulm Area Emergency Food Shelf, which serves much of Brown County, along with families from western Nicollet County.

“It’s the economy,” Sanford said. “People’s hours have been cut, jobs have been lost. It’s just the same story all over.”

Last month, the New Ulm food shelf helped feed 373 people in 145 households. That compares to 290 people in 106 households a year ago.

In Waseca, the food shelf provided 82 households with grocery baskets in August, up from about 50 in August of other years. In good times, food shelf workers tend to see clientele they’ve seen many times before. In bad times, they see people who have never stepped foot in a food shelf unless they were making a donation.

“I’d say 40 percent would be first-time users,” Baidoo said of the August clients. “... Once they’re here, they let you know this is really hard for them to do. And some take less than they could actually use because they want to leave some for others.”

A deep recession also tends to have a negative effect on charitable giving, but both Baidoo and Sanford said their communities have continued to be generous with contributions.

“Donations are great — both cash and food,” Baidoo said. “People have become more and more creative in raising donations for us.”

The CP Holiday Train definitely falls in the creative category, and local food shelf directors are pleased to be included. But an even larger corporation is making a bigger and more lasting impact.

Wal-Mart has changed corporate policy to allow food from its stores that’s approaching its expiration date to be donated to food shelves. Fresh food that can be frozen is also donated if it doesn’t sell quickly.

In New Ulm, the number of individuals served by the food shelf jumped more than 28 percent last month compared to a year earlier. The amount of food given out doubled — thanks largely to the Wal-Mart contributions.

Still, the food shelf directors hope the Holiday Train visit in the midst of the season of giving will provide another boost to donations. Canned fruit, boxed puddings, soups, pancake mixes and syrup are always needed. And cash is especially welcome.

“Unfortunately, I’m getting more and more requests from people to pay for car repairs or utilities or rent — much more than other years,” said Baidoo, whose organization also operates a thrift store and organizes the annual Santa Anonymous project. “So obviously it’s not getting much better for them.”