Benefit performances of Cow Patti Theatre’s production, The Christmas Express, raised more than $23,000, which the company and Lacombe Golf and Country Club distributed to six recipients on Friday afternoon.

The six beneficiaries include: The Sawyer Kiist Passion for Life Bursary, Medicine River Wild Life Center, Kasota East Camp, Caroline Seniors, Clive Resource Center and Friends of the Library, and The Lending Cupboard.

“This is a community-based company and yes, we are a professional company but Cow Patti has always been a company I’ve insisted that people feel they belong to,” said AnnaMarie Lea, artistic producing director.

Lea said Cow Patti accomplishes that by giving back.

“And what better way to create awareness and financial gain through laughter, good food,” she said.

The Christmas Express set new records for ticket sales and also new visitors, coming from big cities and small towns alike, she said.

For the benefit program, each beneficiary was assigned a show, receiving $10 per ticket. They also held their own silent auctions. A kind of draw called the “plop drop” was held through all 33 shows of the production.

The Sawyer Kiist Passion for Life Bursary will be valued at $1,000 and awarded annually to young people needing financial assistance to pursue their passion. Lea said that could be anything from post-secondary education to extra-curricular activities.

The fund was created to honour the memory of Sawyer Kiist, a young Cow Patti actor killed in a car crash last March. Lea said she will leave it to Kiist’s parents to adjudicate the bursary.

She invites applications until the March 1 deadline, with the recipient awarded on March 11, the day of Cow Patti’s closing show of Here on the Flight Path.