Sales of the Humboldt Strong doughnuts have been booming since Chestermere Tim Hortons started selling them on Monday April 9 in support of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy.
Andrew Marriott said on the first day they sold over 1000 of the doughnuts and all the proceeds from the doughnuts will be going to the Humboldt Broncos team.
“I never thought we would sell this many,” said Marriott.
Since the start of selling the doughnuts he said they have sold around a thousand doughnuts each day the fundraiser has gone on.
Marriott said the Chestermere and Langdon Oilmens have donated for another 1000 doughnuts to be given out sequentially.
He said this tragedy hit home for him because his wife grew up in Humboldt and spent time seeing the Broncos play, so he decided to match each donation.
Marriott said that the Chestermere is the only one matching the donations as far as he knows.
“Right away because Chestermere’s such a hockey community we wanted to embrace this and even add on with our extra donation,” he said.
The initiative started through the Saskatchewan Tim Hortons and it was optional to take part in it, but the Chestermere location wanted to embrace it and even add on to it with their extra donations.
By his count so far with the extra donations the Chestermere Tim Hortons will be donating around $10,000.
Marriott said that sometimes they have had to go to Strathmore Tim Hortons to lend them doughnuts because they would run out throughout the day.
“This is not about Tim Hortons, this is about the Humboldt Broncos, this is about people coming together, this is about my baker not being upset or terrified that she has to make 1000 doughnuts extra a day and she’s glad to do it because she knows what cause this is going to,” said Marriott.
He said that Bulk Barn had even given them discounts on the sprinkles when they ran out.
Marriott said this is about communities coming together and all the support around the communities and organizations for the cause.
He has had people order dozens of doughnuts at a time for the campaign
“Ultimately, this is for people in Chestermere who don’t come to Tim Hortons, and if they come into Tim Hortons and buy a dozen or two dozen doughnuts and never come again, that’s great, he said.
He also said that one of the reasons this campaign is such a big success is because of the I Love Chestermere website.
“That website reaches all of Chestermere,” said Marriott.
It is unsure of how long the campaign will be going for with the Humboldt Broncos doughnuts.
