By Sheldon Spackman

Thursday!

Red Deer Dairy Queen locations leaders in Miracle Treat Day support

Aug 7, 2019 | 5:20 PM

Central Albertans are encouraged to join Canadians across the country on Thursday in enjoying a Dairy Queen Blizzard for Miracle Treat Day, all in support of the Children’s Miracle Network.

On Aug. 8, all four Dairy Queen locations in Red Deer will donate proceeds from every Blizzard Treat sold to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, one of 12 Children’s Miracle Network member hospitals in Canada.

The Dairy Queen – Children’s Miracle Network partnership began in 1984 in support of sick and injured children across North America.

Every minute, 62 children are said to enter a Children’s Miracle Network member hospital for treatment. Officials say these hospitals rely on community donations to ensure each child receives the best possible care.

Now a 17-year tradition in Red Deer, Miracle Treat Day saw local Dairy Queen locations surpass the $1 million fundraising mark in 2018, with owners the Hamill family becoming just the second franchisee in Canada to do so.

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General Manager Drew Hamill says Miracle Treat Day is the culmination of a year’s-worth of fundraising and an event they’re proud to take part in.

“When they come into the stores, they’ll see all the paper balloons hanging on the wall, those are things that have been donated one dollar at a time by customers over the past three months,” says Hamill. “Our staff are incredible, they’ve been asking customers every day for one dollar at a time, chipping away at a fundraising goal. We’ve had staff hang out until midnight hanging balloons in the middle of the night to get those all put up, it’s a huge job.”

In addition, Hamill says staff also donate some of their hours that day, with Dairy Queen matching that donation and giving the proceeds to the Children’s Miracle Network.

“Without our staff and the community, this really isn’t possible,” he exclaims. “It’s nice to be able to give back, it’s something that’s been instilled in myself and my father from my grandfather who started this business in 1967. If you take care of the community, the community will take care of you back.”

Hamill says he has seen first-hand the impact Miracle Treat Day and the Children’s Miracle Network can have on families and the community.

“I’ve had the pleasure of going to Children’s Miracle Network celebrations in Florida before where you get to see all the Miracle children, the people who probably honestly wouldn’t be alive to tell their story if not for all the fundraising that everyone does,” says Hamill. “I have a good friend whose daughter has lived a lot longer than they originally gave her and they moved down closer to Stollery Children’s Hospital when she was a baby so that they could get better health care. They actually live here in Red Deer now and I feel everyone you talk to has some sort of personal connection to one of those hospitals.”

Hamill says he’s proud of the support they get every year on Miracle Treat Day.

“There’s no other town that I know of that supports us the way Red Deer does,” exclaims Hamill. “We raise more money per capita hands down than anywhere else and that’s just a testament to Red Deer and our staff.”

For more information, visit www.miracletreatday.ca