The 10th annual student-run Burger Day raised a record amount of approximately $74,000-75,000 April 15. The event was held at the Plaza Del Prado McDonald’s in Northbrook and was led by Burger Day Team members from GBN, GBS, New Trier and North Shore Country Day.
The GBS Burger Day Team members, sophomore Henry Dickson, junior Johnny Cowhey and senior Paul Masini, advertised the event around GBS by selling t-shirts for $10 with 100 percent of these funds, along with the burgers sold on Burger Day 10, being donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
“Ronald McDonald House Charities is a great charity that supports kids in a hospital,” Cowhey said. “It opens their doors for families that have children staying indefinitely at hospitals in order to make the healing process easier on everyone.”
Now in its ninth year, Burger Day originally began as a prank among five friends from Field Middle School who attempted to purchase as many burgers as possible from the Plaza Del Prado McDonald’s. The five friends expanded the number of people who took place in every successive Burger Day until the fourth occurrence of the orchestrated prank.
“After the fourth time this happened, […] [the participants] bought over one thousand burgers,” Cowhey said. “The owner of the local McDonald’s approached the kids and told them that buying out the burgers from a McDonald’s is impossible and what if they turned it into a charity event? This is how the event was born.”
According to Josh Tolmatsky, Burger Day President, Ronald McDonald House Charities employee and GBN Burger Day Team member, the event featured new aspects including a title sponsorship of $10,000 provided by Dr. Pepper.
“Getting a title sponsor is very exciting,” Tolmatsky said. “The entire Burger Day Team and I presented to a representative from Dr. Pepper who runs their McDonald’s account for the Midwest.”
Dr. Pepper was one of 40 sponsors for Burger Day 10—up from 28 sponsors last year. Also new this year were a series of entertainers alongside Ronald McDonald such as Benny the Bull and the Incredi-Bulls.
“Having the entertainers was absolutely awesome,” Tolmatsky said. “I thought it added an entire new element to the event that really made it a lot more fun for everyone.”
In the spirit of the first Burger Day, there is an annual burger-eating contest in which teams from participating schools attempt to eat as many burgers in a half hour as possible. Students from GBN, GBS and New Trier formed teams of four. Juniors Denatra Moshi, Aaron Rowe, James Roberts, and Peter Balabanos represented GBS.
GBS fell three burgers short of GBN’s winning amount of 61 burgers, roughly 4,000 calories per team member, according to Tolmatsky.
Moreover, Lake Park High School participated in Burger Day 10 for the first year .
“[Cowhey] connected us to Lake Park High School through his brother who is a teacher there,” Tolmatsky said. “They actually have community service class that enacts various projects so they will be starting their own Burger Day event, […] but they will have the basic Burger Day event to help raise funds for the charity.”
As Burger Day expands to other schools and areas, Cowhey reflected on GBS’s place as a founding Burger Day school.
“GBS has been one of two schools that has seen the event grow from the start,” Cowhey said. “Half of the original founders were from GBS when it was still a prank. Now, the event is passed down from GBS students to GBS students, and the event continues to live on.”
