Over 17,000 bagels arrived in Edmonton on Tuesday afternoon in support of Jewish youth programming.
A fundraiser will see proceeds collected from the sale of the bagels support the B’nai Brith Youth Organization’s Edmonton chapter (BBYO), which runs programs aimed at teaching Jewish youth leadership and community-building skills.
The bagels were picked up by Edmontonians at a drive-thru style event with B’nai Birth members distributing them to customers in accordance with COVID-19 practices.
“It’s wonderful Edmontonians are willing to get behind a fundraiser, but it’s a tasty fundraiser,” said BBYO Bagels for Breakfast fundraising chair Tamara Vineberg.
The initiative was launched a year ago, when over 500 dozen bagels were pre-ordered from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal.
After reaching that lofty total, the group established a new benchmark for 2021: a 1,440-dozen order of the famed bagels, ordered this year from St. Viateur Bagels.
“Within the first week, we sold 500 dozen,” said Vineberg. “The 1,440 goal was reached within two-and-a-half weeks.”
Vineberg said they are estimating the initiative has raised over $14,000. As for plans to go bigger in the future, that may not happen. She admitted that 1,440 dozen of St. Viateur’s bagels was the most they could order.
“They (St. Viateur) have a limited amount of ovens and I think we took over their ovens for this,” she chuckled.
St. Viateur has been making bagels in Montréal’s Mile End neighbourhood since 1957. As for which is better, it’s a tough call for Vineberg, a native of Montréal.
“It’s like Pepsi and Coke,” said Vineberg. “They’re both very similar.”
Watch below: Some Global News videos about Montreal bagels.