Burger Day 9 raised a total of about $58,800 to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Chicago April 21-22, setting a new record for the event.

Burger Day is an annual fundraiser organized by both GBS and GBN students. During the event, McDonald’s sells hamburgers for $1, and all proceeds go directly to charity. The initial fundraising goal for Burger Day 9 was $50,000.

After Burger Day 8 failed to reach its goal of $15,000 last year, sophomore Johnny Cowhey, GBS Burger Day organizer, realized that it was because no change in the event was made from Burger Day 7, which raised $10,000.

“Of course, [Burger Day] didn’t reach that goal because there was no difference between Burger Day 7 and 8,” Cowhey said. “[Burger Day] couldn’t expect to improve by not changing anything.”

In order to improve Burger Day 9, theGBS and GBN organizers asked Loyola and New Trier to participate as well. According to junior Josh Tolmatsky, GBN Burger Day organizer, the only difference between the four schools is that the GBS/GBN Burger Day took place April 21 in Glenview and the Loyola/New Trier Burger Day took place April 22 in Winnetka.

Additionally, the Burger Day organizers added a sponsorship program, which provided $52,000 of the total money raised. Some of the “first-giving sponsors”, or the sponsors who donated the most money, as listed on their t-shirts, include Fresh Farms International Market and Ken’s Beverage, Inc. Other sponsors were Glenview State Bank and Dr. Pepper.

“We implemented a sponsorship program, which has been by far the largest way we have raised money,” Tolmatsky said.  “In fact, in December we sent out in the mail sponsorship solicitation packets to like 350 companies and […] we’ve been contacting companies, calling them, emailing them. We gave presentations to some companies, so we’ve been able to stir a lot of funds through sponsorships […]”

The week before Burger Day, both GBS and GBN sold t-shirts for $10, giving all proceeds to RMHC. According to Cowhey, all of the sponsors were featured on the back of the shirt this year.

According to Tolmatsky, the turnout of people who attended the GBS/GBN Burger Day was smaller than it has been in past years.

“On Saturday, [GBS/GBN Burger Day], there [were] about 100 people total throughout the day,” Tolmatsky said. “Then the next day, [Loyola/New Trier Burger Day], I would say there [were] about 35 [people]. I would say the lower numbers can be accredited to the fact that it’s [Loyola and New Trier’s] first [Burger Day] so not that many people knew about it […]”

Additionally, 510 hamburgers were sold at GBS/GBN Burger Day, which, according to Cowhey, did not surpass the record of 1,000 hamburgers sold in Burger Day 4.

Through collecting donations the day of the GBS/GBN event, Tolmatsky said they raised about $277 solely from that.

Cowhey believes that the most important and unique feature of Burger Day is the fact that 100 percent of the money raised goes to RMHC. According to RMHC.org, the Ronald McDonald House program provides a “home-away-from-home” for families who have a hospitalized child, so they can stay nearby the hospital. The Ronald McDonald House allows families to stay for little or no cost.

“Some people aren’t educated about [RMHC],” Cowhey said. “When I say [Burger Day’s] money goes there, people say, ‘What does McDonald’s need the money for?’ The [Ronald McDonald House] is independently run from McDonald’s. [Burger Day] is for charity and it does help sick kids.”