MS Day a bigger success than expected

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

A&W restaurants from all over took part in the annual MS (multiple sclerosis) Day, which took place Aug. 25. In Strathmore there was a kid’s carnival, a Baby Burger-eating contest, a car and bike show, celebrity appearances and a root beer shop contest. 

“It went really well. We had lots of kids at the kid’s carnival, we’re estimating between 50 and 75, which the year before we only had about 10, so it’s gone up. The kids really loved it, they were having fun with the games,” said Kristel Lang, an employee with A&W and one of the organizers.

For the last few months the Strathmore location has been working on meeting their goal of $5,000 for charity. They held a garage sale and car wash Aug. 20, and have done fundraising in store, through silent auction and other initiatives. For every teen burger sold on Aug. 25, $1 went to MS. The Strathmore A&W sold 521 teen burgers. 

“We raised $7,339.75. We were the number one store for Canalta in Alberta,” said Lang. 

“Over half of the staff are teenagers, and they got out and did bottle drives, and penny drives, and they ran the garage sale and car wash. It was the teenagers that work here that did it all, they were really good.”

There is still a painting waiting to be bid on, which was collected as a silent auction item. Lang thinks no one had bid on it due to it coming in late. Even though this years MS day just ended, Lang and the staff already have a goal set for next year. 

“We’re going to soon start our Million Pennies for MS for 2012. We’re going to try to collect a million pennies between now and next year. Which is equal to $10,000. We’re setting our goal for $10,000 next year,” said Lang. 

There will be coin collection containers set up for the pennies, and as they are filled, there is a sealed barrel that they will be put into.