Members of the Fort Garry Horse hit the streets of Winnipeg's North End today to deliver Christmas hampers to families in need. 

The exercise began in 1984 to recognize the historical tie between the Canadian military and the Christmas Cheer Board, which a number of Winnipeg churches started in 1919 to provide Christmas hampers and toys for widows and orphans of soldiers who died during World War I. 

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and Nic Curry, MLA for Kildonan helped with packing and delivering hampers this year. 

Lt.-Col Dave Koltun is the Commanding Officer for the Fort Garry Horse and says they pick hampers up from the Cheer Board and then load them into military vehicles to bring to the community. 

"These are families that the parents cannot provide what they would like to provide to their children and we can help alleviate some of that stress and help out our fellow Winnipeggers," Koltun said. "As Canadian soldiers our job is to help serve the Canadian public. Either by taking our values and helping other nations or even just the local area." 

"We're helping the city and the citizens."

Master Cpl. Patrick Cross was helping pack hampers and said it's important to help those in need and it also helps the military connect with their community. 

"We serve the Canadian people and if all they see is us just off being overseas doing stuff like that they don't get to meet us or see the others things we do," Cross said. "We like to get out and introduce ourselves to the local community so they know we're here to help them." 

"It puts a public face on us so they don't just see us as some army somewhere else in the world." 

The hampers contain dried goods, canned foods and presents for families that have children. 

They also include either turkeys or chickens, depending on the size of the family receiving the hamper. 

Koltun says last year they delivered a record 425 hampers, and they hope to break that record this year.