Fried chicken proceeds to support Ben Stelter Foundation

May 27 would have been Ben Stelter's birthday. CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa has more on fundraising efforts by the Ben Stelter Foundation.

A fundraising push in honour of Oilers superfan Ben Stelter was underway in Edmonton on Tuesday.

“Celebrating by doing some of Benny’s favorite things today. Eating some of the food that he loves so much and then we’ll go to cheer on his Edmonton Oilers tonight,” Ben’s father Mike Stelter said, at a downtown Popeyes restaurant.

Ben died from cancer at the age of six in 2022. Tuesday marked what would have been his 9th birthday.

Stelter said Ben’s favourite meal between his cancer treatments was the spicy chicken tenders, fries and mac and cheese at Popeyes.

“(After being) in the hospital, when he’d come home - he’d always request Popeyes as his first meal that we’d sit down and eat as a family together,” Stelter said.

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Kyle Ferbey, chief operating officer of Synergy Franchising, learned about Ben’s love for the chicken at a charity event and decided to team up with the Stelter family and raise money in honour of Ben.

“Ben just was always such an inspiration for me, personally, and I think for everyone in the city to go through what he went through and the hardship he had,” Ferbey said, remembering Ben’s rally for the Oilers while battling cancer.

“To always have a smile on his face and to be a pillar of power, even for the people of Edmonton, but also the Oilers and the players, (it’s) just a reminder that people go through a lot harder things than what we do every day.”

All net proceeds from 21 Popeyes locations in northern Alberta will go to the Ben Stelter Foundation, which is raising money to bring an advanced cancer radiation therapy to Edmonton.

The foundation first announced plans to build The Ben Stelter Centre for Proton Therapy and Neurosciences in March 2024, which they said would be a first for proton therapy in Canada.

“Hundreds of Albertans have to travel to the United States for this treatment every year,” Stelter said. “We’re hoping to break ground on it in fall of this year, but we’re still working hard raising money for it.”

Popeyes also set up a campaign to collect cash donations for the charity at its restaurant locations from May 20 to June 3.

Celebrations for Ben also took place at a school in St. Albert, which has celebrated Ben’s birthday for the past three years with a fundraiser.

“Ben was a huge example of what one little human can do for a community, a province, a city, Canada, the world, because we have heard over time how his spirit has impacted many children,” Joseph M. Demko School principal Susan Anderson told CTV News Edmonton after a school assembly.

Anderson says the school holds a raffle for prizes and sweet treats that are donated by the community.

This year, she said they raised more than $5,000 for the Ben Stelter Foundation.

Stelter says the love for Ben and the support for the foundation are touching.

“(It) just speaks volumes about how much the city cares and that they remember him, that they think about him a lot too,” Stelter said.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where the community would rally around one special boy, one family, one foundation.”

Donations for the Ben Stelter Foundation can also be made on their website and through the purchase of hoodies and shirts from their new online store.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa and Bruce Wiggins