At first, Juan Delgado agreed to spend 24 hours inside a Dundas St. Denny’s as a consequence of dropping in his fantasy soccer league.
Delgado advised CTV Information Toronto Tuesday he joined the league as they had been in search of a twelfth particular person, and thought it’d be enjoyable regardless of not having participated in years.
“I didn’t actually take the penalty critically, as a result of I’m like, ‘They’re not really going to make anyone go 24 hours at a Denny’s – that’s foolish,’” he mentioned. “However the debate on the [league’s] thread was loopy. They’re like, ‘For the integrity of the league, we should uphold our penalties.’”
“I spotted I couldn’t get out of it, after which thought to myself, ‘Okay, that is gonna be 24 hours. It’s a waste of a day. What do I do to make it worthwhile?” he added.
After considering of varied “inventive, foolish concepts,” Delgado says it dawned on him to show his penalty right into a constructive motion and fundraise for trigger. That’s when the ‘Making Denny’s Great Again’ fundraiser for Wagner Inexperienced YMCA was born.
“I used to be fortunate sufficient to do a walkthrough of the Wagner Inexperienced YMCA in the summertime, and I used to be simply so impressed by the work that they do this once I was considering of a charity or place to place the cash in the direction of, it simply appeared to make sense,” Delgado mentioned, noting the department can be close by the Denny’s on Dundas.
Juan Delgado with Nelson Borges, Director of Youth Outreach and Intervention on the YMCA of Larger Toronto. (Courtesy of Juan Delgado)
24 HOURS AT DENNY’S
After clearing the plan with the restaurant, Delgado kicked off his 24 hours on the breakfast chain on Saturday night time, at round 8 p.m.
“I assumed I’d begin the consuming with one thing gentle, and sort of tempo myself, you recognize, to not go too loopy. Properly, the very first thing I had was mozzarella sticks – and I’m lactose illiberal,” he mentioned.
Throughout his 24-hour keep, Delgado mentioned he went on to dine on hen tenders – “which I lovingly name hen tendies” –, a smoothie in the course of the night time, a turkey sandwich, french toast, soup, hashbrowns, extra hen “tendies,” and a steak dinner to wrap up the occasion.
Delgado mentioned his buddies came visiting to help him all through the night time, together with Run The Burbs star Andrew Phung, who dropped by along with his son.
Outdoors of visits, Delgado mentioned he solely dozed off for about 45 minutes. He recalled operating into the after-party crowd late on Saturday night time and the Sunday morning brunch crowd, and says he additionally obtained to attach with restaurant employees, who gave him all his food and drinks without spending a dime come the top of his keep.
Throughout the first 24 hours, Delgado raised $1,000.
Now, the fundraiser is sitting at $5,736, and Delgado hopes he can cross the $6,000 mark earlier than the top of the week, when he plans on taking the web page down.
“The fundraising facet was lovely, and the quantity I raised was unbelievable, I’m nonetheless flabbergasted that the group was capable of help in such a manner, however the employees there additionally made it simply that a lot better,” he mentioned.
Nelson Borges, the Director of Youth Outreach and Intervention at Wagner Green YMCA, advised CTV Information Toronto in an emailed assertion that it’s “wonderful” to see how a lot help Delgado had acquired with the fundraiser, and that they’re targeted on creating extra housing choices for youth.
“When younger persons are prepared to depart the shelter, these funds will enable us to safe many provides that they should transition to unbiased residing and transfer into their new place,” Borges mentioned.
“Additionally, donations enable us to offer extra on-site programming targeted on growing their expertise, constructing their confidence, making ready them to residing independently, and constructing connections locally,” he added.
“What began off as a misplaced guess has reworked into one thing significant for the youth who discover help on the Wagner Inexperienced YMCA.”
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