Kai Madsen is celebrating quite a few milestones this year: 50 years since he started volunteering with the Christmas Cheer Board, 25 years since he became their Executive Director, and 100 years that the organization itself has been in operation.

Kai and the more than 5,000 volunteers annually have been such an incredible force in our city, bringing holiday cheer to under-served families for such a long time, and they’re still going strong.

I sat down to talk with Kai Madsen, Executive Director of the Christmas Cheer Board, to talk about a lifetime spent giving back, the personal value of volunteerism, and how the Cheer Board has affected thousands of Winnipeggers over the last century.