Fried chicken shops raise over $30K for Ben Stelter Foundation

Ben Stelter after receiving his own Oilers trading card.

In honour of the Oilers superfan’s favourite post-treatment meal, Popeye’s has raised $31,110.63 for the Ben Stelter Foundation.

Ben Stelter died from cancer at the age of six in 2022. May 27 marked what would have been his 9th birthday.

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His 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,” said Ben’s father Mike Stelter at the fundraising kickoff last week.

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

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

• Fried chicken proceeds to support Ben Stelter Foundation

Stelter said 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,” he 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 Edmonton’s Adrienne Lee