Peter Lozinski
Daily Herald
The Rose Garden Hospice has benefitted from cookies, chocolates and now, hamburgers.
Tuesday afternoon the hospice and the two local A&W locations announced that from May 3-9, June 14-20 and August 12-18, $2 from every Teen Burger sold will be donated to the Rose Garden Hospice under the A Cause for Comfort Campaign.
The final amount raised will be matched by local entrepreneur and philanthropist Malcolm Jenkins.
“We have a vehicle that we could really get the word out and we wanted to utilize that to get behind a great community use,” said Reg Fontaine, whose family owns the two A&W franchises in Prince Albert.
“It’s grassroots, so meaningful to this community and speaks on so many levels to family and community. That’s why it was important to us at A&W.”
Fontaine said Don Daschuk and his late wife Rose, the hospice’s namesake, were frequent customers of the A&W, and his sister was a good friend of Rose.
“It became a little bit close of a cause for us,” Fontaine said.
He hopes that by extending the campaign for three weeks over the summer, more people can be encouraged to get behind the project.
“We love this cause and want to be a part of it.”
The Fontaine family was all on hand at their Marquis Road location for the announcement, as was Rose’s daughter, hospice foundation board member Marina Mitchell.
“We’re excited to have A&W. They’ve been a part of Prince Albert for a long time, since the 70s, and it’s a great family place to be,” Mitchell said.
“Lots of memories have been made at A&Ws.”
One of those memories is her own.
“When my mom was really sick, that’s the one thing she wanted near the end. She didn’t have an appetite, but she always wanted a teen burger,” Mitchell said.
“It’s pretty special. Everyone loves a teen burger.”
