Our day off here in Alberta turned out to be a little more exciting than our day off in Saskatchewan.
We are lucky to be staying in Calgary during the STAMPEDE, so yesterday we "lassoed" the oppourtunity, if you will, and headed off to the grounds from morning 'til night! It was a lot like the CNE in Toronto, just with a massive touch of Western flare. We watched some cowboys wrangle cows, some others ride bulls bareback, and we saw a sweet saxophone band that played a cover of Micheal Jackson's "Beat It." (Pictures and videos to follow.)
What we didn't realize though was that a day later, there was another stampede waiting for us outside of downtown. A different kind of stampede, but the most dangerous: the stampede of 500+ people hungry for LUNCH.
We had our fourth event this afternoon at Safeway Head Office. It was our biggest event yet, featuring many, many Safeway employees looking for some good eats. Today's menu? A choice between BBQ Brown Sugar and BBQ Hot and Spicy deli wraps. (I prefer BBQ Brown Sugar myself, which turned out to be the more popular choice.)
In preparation for the anticipated crowd, we pre-made about 100 wraps before the event start time. But regardless of our efforts, we were still making wraps rapid-fire for a solid hour. Yes, while you were enjoying a nice ceaser salad or leftover chicken in the office during lunch hour, the Maple Lodge Farms Special Event team was standing in a whirlwind of tortillas, tomatoes and cheese...OH MY! I swear I'll be making wraps in my dreams tonight.
It was definitely a fast-paced event, but we still had Plinko set up inside the lunch room, PLUS a raffle for a panini press or a yoga kit! Employees had the opportunity to make a donation to our charities (Cardiac Kids, Sunshine Dreams for Kids Foundation and Heart Hospice) - in exchange for a ticket. We made $232.78 in total. Not too bad for a lunchtime BBQ!
That's another cool part about the Special Events team at Maple Lodge. Whether we're doing a grocery store front, a head office, a fundraiser BBQ, a charged event - you name it - all the money we raise goes towards the three charities I listed above!
I really love the fact that I work for a company that gives back so much. It's a great feeling to be able to count the money in the donation box at the end of an event and know it's going to benefit some kids in the greater community.
And today, we also benefited the greater community of Calgary!
Being on the road, we get all our product shipped out to us from Ontario. If we have any leftover product, we can't simply put it back in our coolers at Maple Lodge at the end of the day. (Unless we draw straws every time we have an event to decide who gets to drive back to Brampton to do so. Might get a little expensive on gas though.) To prevent any hot dogs, roasts or bacon cases from getting thrown out, we've been having to get a little creative. Today was a prime example: we gave our leftover roasts to "The Seed," a non-profit organization that helps out Calgary's homeless that Safeway recommended to us.
I don't know his name, but the man that came with his truck to pick up our leftover roasts was SO greatful for what we were giving him. He said the organization makes bagged lunches everyday for the people they serve:
"They're going to be so excited it's not ham!" he said, with a genuine smile that almost made Natalie and I cry. (But actually.)
It was a beautifully unexpected moment, and a great ending to event number four!
We pulled out of the Safeway parking lot with an empty reefer, but because of what we gave, someone's stomach won't be tomorrow.
Cool.
See you in the mountains!!!
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