Burgers to Beat MS reaches record

A&W Food Services of Canada Inc.’s ninth annual Burgers to Beat MS campaign, which ran July 17 to Aug. 24, raised a record high of $1.85 million for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

Since 2009, the campaign has raised more than $11 million to help provide programs and services for Canadians living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and fund research that will impact the lives of, and give hope to, those living with MS. Burgers to Beat MS is the single largest annual corporate fundraiser for the MS Society of Canada.

The campaign wrapped up on Aug. 24 with Burgers to Beat MS Day when A&W donated $2 from every Teen Burger sold to the MS Society. To celebrate, nearly 900 A&W restaurants across the country hosted Burgers to Beat MS events.

Leading up to, and on, Burgers to Beat MS Day, Canadians raised funds for the MS Society of Canada by rounding up their bill at the register, purchasing $1, $2 and $5 paper cutouts, donating through in-store donation mugs, and participating in local restaurant fundraising initiatives.

Online donations were made at BurgersToBeatMS.ca, and A&W also donated $40,000 for Facebook shares of the Burgers to Beat MS online video featuring Christine Sinclair and popular A&W spokesperson Allen — from A&W’s TV commercials.

To help raise awareness, Sinclair, two-time Olympic bronze medalist and Canadian women’s national soccer team captain, joined the fight to beat MS. Sinclair, whose mother, Sandra, lives with MS, shared her story and hosted special events in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Sinclair helped make and serve more than 150 A&W Root Beer floats in Vancouver; kicked-off a special soccer-themed event in Toronto; and met with more than 300 eager soccer fans, who started lining up more than two hours beforehand, at an A&W event in Montreal.

“My mom was diagnosed before I was born, but I didn’t know until I was 11 or 12 years old,” Sinclair said in a news release. “I had no idea what MS was or the impact it would have on our family. Watching the disease slowly take its toll on her has been devastating. But, through it all, she’s been a rock. She is my hero.”

For the fifth year in a row, a Grande Prairie, Alta A&W restaurant ranked as the top fundraising restaurant in Canada, raising more than $45,000.