LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – To call the local Burgers for Boobs (BfB) event a success would be a wild understatement. BfB is a charitable event that the Milwaukee Burger Company (MBC) corporation has been holding for the past 14 years during the October Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. During the event, $5 from every burger ordered is donated to a breast cancer charity or recipient. The La Crosse MBC has been taking part for the last 3 years. General manager, Justin Conford says, “We have been here for 4 years but didn’t open until November, so we weren’t able to take part that first year. But this year has been the biggest so far. We almost tripled the amount of donations we received.”
Donations poured in from all over the community; donations from businesses like Gaming Generations, Surly Brewing Company, Howie’s, Big Al’s, Dublin Square, The Sports Nut, Stansfield Vending, Genzie’s Pub, BP Smokehouse, Cannabiz Depot and so many more; DJ Jeremy donated his time and provided music for the entire night. Most impressive were the community donations. Regular customers of MBC donated gift certificates and televisions and gift baskets of all sorts. Some even donated their talents. There were two hand-stitched quilts (one from Betty and Gale Lifka, and one from the Ladies of St. Patrick’s Church) and Dennis Hoffman made an impressive 10-nester Martin bird complex with anti-prey feature that he donated to the cause. And many people donated meals to the cause. If you attended the event and received a free burger, you can probably thank a gentleman from Prairie du Chien. Conford explained, “A guy from Prairie du Chien heard about the event and called here to pay for the first $300 worth of burgers to whoever walked in the door.”
Then there are the employees of the La Crosse MBC. Conford told me that all of the employees that worked the event volunteered to work, worked extra hours than they signed up for and donated all of their tips as well. Conford added, “I get personal satisfaction out of these events from my staff. Events like this show my younger staff how they can personally impact the community just by helping or simply being present. I think that is important. Especially in today’s day and age. Showing them that just being here can go a long way to making an impact in our community.”
Conford says he enjoys doing events like this for a number of reasons, “I like knowing that we helped someone. More than someone… we helped 4 specific people. This is a feel-good day. Breast cancer can be tough and hard and sad but having those women and their families here and seeing them smile and have fun is personally rewarding. And, also, seeing the local businesses come together for causes like this is great too. It’s nice to see the community come together to help the community.”
The planning for next year’s event has already begun and Conford says they are hoping to make it even bigger and better. That will be a tall task when you consider that they overshot this year’s goal by over $10,000. The Burgers for Boobs event at the La Crosse Milwaukee Burger Company raised over $15,700 resulting in donations to each of the 4 recipients totaling almost $4,000. Conford says “I want to thank my staff. None of this happens without them, obviously. They are amazing and I am, just, really happy with everything they have done. I want to thank all of the customers that showed up. I think we all had some fun and we raised a lot of money for a great cause. And, finally, I want to thank the four recipients for taking the time to be with us and for letting us do this for them. I really look forward to next year and what we can do then!”
