Thanks to all of our loyal DQ® customers who went out and bought Blizzard® Treats on Miracle Treat Day on August 11!
DQ has been raising funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for 27 years now, and we’ve raised almost $90 million during this time. Miracle Treat Day is our signature fundraising event, and we appreciate all of you treating yourselves AND helping kids in need! Donations for Miracle Treat Day are still coming in, but we’re expecting to have a donation of over $4 million for CMN Hospitals from just this one day!
Want to hear another really cool thing that happened this year? Franchisee Delon Mork challenged his town of 6,000 people to purchase 25,000 Blizzard treats on Miracle Treat Day. If they met the goal – he said he’d jump out of a plane! The town of Madison, SD, rose to the challenge… check out the link to Delon’s jump below!
Earlier this summer I learned that a friend of mine has been going through a very difficult time. Her three-year-old daughter, Rachel, had been hospitalized with a serious illness. Rachel’s kidneys had partially failed, allowing toxins to travel to both sides of her brain. Although dialysis eventually restored her kidney function, Rachel has a long road of rehabilitation ahead as she works to recover from the resulting brain injury.
Rachel is now being treated at Gillette Children’s Hospital, which is the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital for the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Thanks to my friend’s frequent Facebook updates, I’ve followed Rachel’s progress as she undergoes daily physical and occupational therapy sessions, has re-learned to smile and laugh, and as she fights to regain her ability to speak. One after another, the tiny miracles are adding up.
Every year on Miracle Treat Day, I visit a participating DQ® location to buy a Blizzard® Treat for myself during my lunch break. In the evening I return to buy another for myself and more for my family members. I’ve always been proud to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and happy to have a reason to double-dip on treats once a year. But this year it has taken on an extra special meaning, since I know those treats I’ll be buying will directly support the hospital that is helping my friend and her daughter.
Today is Miracle Treat Day. Stop at a participating DQ location (find the one nearest you at http://miracletreatday.com), pick up a Blizzard Treat for yourself, and maybe one for a friend as well. Because you never know who might be needing help from your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. As for me, I’m going for Rachel.
Posted by Blizz Prez under Blizzard on August 5th, 2010
Hey fans! Today is a very important day because it’s Miracle Treat Day at DQ. It’s a day that you, as a Blizzard Fan Club member, can make a big difference for sick and injured children in your area. $1 or more from each Blizzard treat sale will be contributed to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Just think, if every Blizzard Fan Club member bought a Blizzard treat today, we would raise over $2 million. Tell me you couldn’t go for a Blizzard treat right about now? I know I could…times ten. Let’s join together and make today the day miracles happen for kids in need. Click here to find your participating DQ location.
Miracle Treat Day is just around the corner – Aug. 5 in the US and Aug. 12 in Canada! It is a very special day for us at Dairy Queen® and we hope you can be a part of it!
Over the last 26 years, DQ® has raised over $81 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals throughout North America. We are making miracles happen as we speak! Children’s Miracle Network treats 17 million children each year to help overcome diseases and injuries of every kind. It is truly amazing what they do! Last year, $4.5 million was raised on Dairy Queen Miracle Treat Day for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals, and we are hoping to top that this year!
We hope you will come out to a participating DQ® store to help make miracles happen. When you buy a Blizzard® Treat on Miracle Treat Day, $1 or more will benefit your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. All funds raised stay local, so you will be helping the children in your own community!
On Miracle Treat Day, treat yourself to a Blizzard Treat while you help to save and improve the lives of children. Visit miracletreatday.com to find a participating location near you.
And check out the video below of John Gainor, President and CEO of International Dairy Queen Corporation, as he talks about the incredible power of Miracle Treat Day.
Allow me to introduce you to nine-year-old Kaitlin Clutter of Manchester, N.J. She is one of the thousands of reasons to support Miracle Treat Day on Thursday, August 5 when participating Dairy Queen® and DQ® Grill & Chill® locations across the U.S. will donate at least $1 from every Blizzard® Treat sold to benefit Children’s Miracle Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals. Kaitlin is an amazing young lady. I had the good fortune of meeting her when the DQ Blizzardmobile tour kicked-off in New York to celebrate the 25th birthday of the Blizzard Treat and raise money and awareness for Children’s Miracle Network.
While it might not seem like a big deal that Kaitlin came out before the crack of dawn to join us in announcing the tour on the CBS Early Show and then came to Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Jersey to help us hand out Blizzard Treats to the staff and hospitalized children, believe me it is. You see, Kaitlin was born with Spina Bifida, a malformation of the spine and spinal cord that comes with a host of complications. Kaitlin has faced hydrocephalus; a tethered spinal cord; severe club feet; bowel, bladder and kidney problems; reflux; asthma; and paralysis of the lower legs.
But, there she was on that day in April, smiling and enjoying a Blizzard Treat on national television and then helping serve Blizzard Treats at the hospital.
What strikes you when you meet her, aside from her cute freckled face, is her unbridled enthusiasm and incredible spirit. She brought Blizzard Treats to all of the kids in the hospital lobby who were too sick to come outside, actually asking the nurses if she bring them Blizzard Treats as well.
At one point, the lobby was empty except for the guard at the desk and me. Kaitlin, with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step, said to the guard, “Hi, how are you doing today? Did you get your Blizzard?” When the guard answered no, she quickly turned on her heels and bounced back outside to get the guard his Blizzard Treat.
What’s hard to believe when you meet her, is that doctors told Kaitlin’s parents when she was born that she’d have such severe complications she’d never perform the most basic tasks. She would never crawl, walk, see, hear, speak, learn or eat. But, good thing for all us — no one ever told Kaitlin that. She has made it through every hurdle and every surgery she’s faced. This is a fantastic young lady whose smile from ear to ear is contagious.
Thanks to the miracles performed at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the country, kids like Kaitlin are given a chance. In Kaitlin’s case, it’s our chance to enjoy the bright smile and infectious personality she shares with all who meet her.
So, we hope to see you at one of our participating Dairy Queen locations on August 5th for Miracle Treat Day. I know Kaitlin will be there sharing a smile and a story.
What has red spoon windshield wipers, red lips on the front grill, upside-down Blizzard® cups for rear-view mirrors and the ability to create a snowstorm wherever it goes?
Here’s a hint:
It’s the DQ®Blizzard®mobile! Our fully-functional brand mobile is currently touring the United States and Canada, visiting 25 cities from April to August, with approximately three stops per city.
All stops include handing out FREE world-famous Blizzard Treats in the brand-new Mini size (the Mini Blizzard Treat will be available in DQ locations this summer), as well as music and emcee interaction. Some events will also include the Blizzard Blaster–a giant, upside-down inflatable Blizzard cup with coupons swirling around inside. A person can go inside the blaster to try to grab coupons. And the forecast calls for snow flurries–the Blizzardmobile comes equipped with its own snow-making machine!
There is even a fundraising component during the Blizzardmobile tour for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN). CMN canisters will travel with the vehicle to collect donations throughout the tour, and the last two stops–on Aug. 5 in Minneapolis and Aug. 12 in Calgary, Alberta–will take place on Miracle Treat Day (MTD) in each country. On MTD, participating DQ operators donate $1 or more to their local CMN Hospital for every Blizzard Treat they sell in their stores.
For anyone not able to witness the Blizzardmobile in person, check out the DQ Facebook page. It will include photos, tour stop information, videos, commercials, webisodes and much more. Other elements on the DQ Facebook fan page include a “Capture the Cup” photo challenge, a Facebook “Photo Grid” where you can to tag your friends as the Blizzard Treat that best represents them, and the “Pick Five,” in which you choose your top five Blizzard flavors. Go to http://www.facebook.com/dairyqueen now to get all the details!
Posted by Michael Keller under CBO Corner on August 20th, 2009
Michael Keller, Chief Brand Officer, shares his thoughts and unique insight regarding his trip to Madison, South Dakota, for Miracle Treat Day on Aug. 13.
We want to thank everyone who stopped at a Dairy Queen® location on Aug. 13 to purchase a Blizzard® Treat in support of Miracle Treat Day. This year was very different in that, for the first time, we used the social Web to help spread the word about Miracle Treat Day. So thank you to everyone who tweeted on Twitter or shared information regarding Miracle Treat Day on their blog or became fans of Dairy Queen on Facebook.
I had the opportunity to join John Gainor, the president and CEO of International Dairy Queen Corporation, on a trip to Dayton, Ohio, on Miracle Treat Day. We visited The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton and three Dairy Queen locations in the Dayton area. Here are some highlights from my trip with John Gainor on Miracle Treat Day:
embedded by Embedded Video
Posted by Blizz Prez under Blizzard on August 6th, 2009
I know you’ve been hearing a lot about Miracle Treat Day lately (ahem…just 7 more days). So I’m not going to remind you that MIRACLE TREAT DAY IS THURSDAY, AUGUST 13…Ha! Just joking, fans.
What I really want to talk about is the local impact your help has. Each Blizz treat purchased in your community goes to benefit the Children’s Miracle Hospital in YOUR COMMUNITY. So fantastic!
And to elaborate a little more on the partnership between DQ and Children’s Miracle Network, I brought in an important guy from DQ HQ.
Listen up and get the inside scoop straight from Michael Keller, Chief Branding Officer! Not only does he support Children’s Miracle Network with his work at DQ, but he’s also on the CMN board!
