The Ronald McDonald House was introduced to me 4 years ago by my friends Erin Isfeld and Paul Shufelt. I didn’t know much about it other than it was there to help families with sick kids when they didn’t have a place to stay when they travelled to Edmonton. My first experience with the house was through making meals with Chef Paul and his team and the experience completely changed me. I wanted to spend more time with the families at the house helping out where I could!
The Magic Room was always my favourite. I pictured the happy kids when they had the opportunity to choose a toy. Since the items in the room are donated to the house I decided I wanted to do something that we could collect toys to fill up the room!
With the help of sponsors, the 1st annual Holiday Mixer was planned with a goal to collect 100 toys for the house. We far surpassed that by collecting 250 for the Magic Room!
With the success of the 1st Holiday Mixer the Spring Social came next! We successfully collected 360 toys for the house that day and filled a truck to deliver to the Ronald McDonald House! I realized that I just could not take on the task myself of planning two major events in 1 year so I decided to focus on the Holiday Mixer once a year instead but vowed to grow it every year.
That same year I was given the opportunity to be the celebrity chef at Delux Burger Bar. Thanks to my friends and social media followers we successfully sold 553 Burgers that year which meant a $553.00 donation to the house!
The 2nd annual Holiday Mixer was up next! We collected 458 toys for the magic room and raised $1105 dollars in donations that went directly to the house!
This year I had the opportunity to be the celebrity chef again at Delux Burger Bar. Through social media promotion we were able to sell 457 burgers and donate that amount directly to the house!
The 3rd annual Holiday Mixer in support of the Ronald McDonald House of Northern Alberta is on November 2nd 2017. With the support of some amazing sponsors this year we are hoping to collect 500 toys to give the Ronald McDonald House plus $2000 in donations. If you have the time we ask that you join us in supporting the house. If you can’t make the event we can accept toy donations before as well! We couldn’t do this without the support of the amazing businesses that donated prizes and the sponosors. I am so thankful to have the support of the Edmonton community.
Through my time giving back to the house I received a very special badge of honour. I feel so proud when I wear it knowing that my efforts have helped those in need who stay at the house. I appreciate all of you who have supported the Ronald McDonald House every year through burger sales and the Holiday Mixer and I hope that my efforts inspire you to give back in some way to those in need.
To date we have collected over 1000 toys to fill the Magic Room and raised over $1100 through the Holiday Mixer Campaign.
