Man spends 24 hours in Toronto Denny's after losing bet, raises almost $6K for charity
Man spends 24 hours in Toronto Denny's after losing bet, raises almost $6K for charity
Juan Delgado's "Make Denny's Great Again: When Bad Decisions Go Right" image for his 24-hour fundraiser at downtown Toronto Denny's. (Courtesy of Juan Delgado)
At first, Juan Delgado agreed to spend 24 hours inside a Dundas St. Denny’s as a consequence of losing in his fantasy football league.
Delgado told CTV News Toronto Tuesday he joined the league as they were looking for a 12th person, and thought it’d be fun despite not having participated in years.
“I didn’t really take the penalty seriously, because I’m like, ‘They’re not actually going to make anybody go 24 hours at a Denny’s – that’s silly,’” he said. “But the debate on the [league’s] thread was crazy. They’re like, ‘For the integrity of the league, we must uphold our penalties.’”
“I realized I couldn’t get out of it, and then thought to myself, ‘Okay, this is gonna be 24 hours. It’s a waste of a day. What do I do to make it worthwhile?” he added.
After thinking of various “creative, silly ideas,” Delgado says it dawned on him to turn his penalty into a positive action and fundraise for a good cause. That’s when the ‘Making Denny’s Great Again’ fundraiser for Wagner Green YMCA was born.
“I was lucky enough to do a walkthrough of the Wagner Green YMCA in the summer, and I was just so impressed by the work that they do that when I was thinking of a charity or place to put the money towards, it just seemed to make sense,” Delgado said, noting the branch is also nearby the Denny’s on Dundas.
Juan Delgado with Nelson Borges, Director of Youth Outreach and Intervention at the YMCA of Greater Toronto. (Courtesy of Juan Delgado)
24 HOURS AT DENNY'S
After clearing the plan with the restaurant, Delgado kicked off his 24 hours at the breakfast chain on Saturday night, at around 8 p.m.
“I thought I would start the eating with something light, and kind of pace myself, you know, not to go too crazy. Well, the first thing I had was mozzarella sticks – and I’m lactose intolerant,” he said.
During his 24-hour stay, Delgado said he went on to dine on chicken tenders – “which I lovingly call chicken tendies” –, a smoothie in the middle of the night, a turkey sandwich, french toast, soup, hashbrowns, more chicken “tendies,” and a steak dinner to wrap up the event.
Delgado said his friends came over to support him throughout the night, including Run The Burbs star Andrew Phung, who dropped by with his son.
Outside of visits, Delgado said he only dozed off for about 45 minutes. He recalled running into the after-party crowd late on Saturday night and the Sunday morning brunch crowd, and says he also got to connect with restaurant staff, who gave him all his food and drink for free come the end of his stay.
Within the first 24 hours, Delgado raised $1,000.
Now, the fundraiser is sitting at $5,736, and Delgado hopes he can cross the $6,000 mark before the end of the week, when he plans on taking the page down.
“The fundraising aspect was beautiful, and the amount I raised was unbelievable, I’m still flabbergasted that the community was able to support in such a way, but the staff there also made it just that much better,” he said.
Nelson Borges, the Director of Youth Outreach and Intervention at Wagner Green YMCA, told CTV News Toronto in an emailed statement that it’s “amazing” to see how much support Delgado had received with the fundraiser, and that they are focused on creating more housing options for youth.
“When young people are ready to leave the shelter, these funds will allow us to secure many supplies that they need to transition to independent living and move into their new place,” Borges said.
“Also, donations allow us to provide more on-site programming focused on increasing their skills, building their confidence, preparing them to living independently, and building connections in the community," he added.
"What started off as a lost bet has transformed into something meaningful for the youth who find support at the Wagner Green YMCA.”
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
Zellers has opened the first of 25 new locations within Hudson's Bay stores across the country. The Canadian retail chain launched 12 stores in Ontario and Alberta Thursday, along with a new e-commerce website.
For the first time, the owner of a building in Old Montreal has responded to questions about the fire — through his lawyer — addressing allegations that the building was unsafe.
The political class at the National Assembly has condemned the 'violent' and 'hateful' remarks that columnist Gilles Proulx allegedly made about Quebec solidaire MNAs during Richard Martineau's show on Qub radio in recent weeks.
The new provincial budget features items specific to southwestern Ontario, including a new English public elementary school in London, Ont. that will serve 556 students and include 88 licensed childcare spaces.
A young Strathroy, Ont. man believes there's a promising way forward in the effort to fight his disease. But, he's being told, right now, that path isn't open to him. Friends and family are stepping up to try and make a case for Kyle McPhee to receive immunotherapy treatments.
The ‘Catch the Ace’ jackpot is still up for grabs in Hagersville. There was no winner Thursday night so the total prize money is now an estimated $1,526,067.
The resurrection of Zellers is officially underway with the Cambridge location opening its doors to eager shoppers who lined up ahead of the store's official reopening.
The co-owners of a new liquidation store in North Bay, Samuel Quesnel and Chloé Boivenue, say they want to bring a treasure hunt shopping experience to the city.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Emergency crews responded to a call for a stabbing on Hartsmere Drive, off Stittsville Main Street, at approximately 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Two police cruisers guarded the parking lot of the Trustee M. Curry Park late Thursday evening.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
After a year-and-a-half without, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) says it’s narrowing in on hiring a permanent chief medical officer of health.
When the permit to construct a replacement span for the Ambassador Bridge expired in the summer of 2022, many thought that would bring an end to a 20-year saga of boarded up homes in the city’s west end.
The quick thinking and immediate actions of two people are credited with possibly saving the life of a Midland councillor after he collapsed at a meeting Wednesday evening.
Investigators with York Regional Police issued Canada-wide warrants for two men who they say are involved in the Richmond Hill attack on Ontario woman Elnaz Hajtamiri weeks before she was allegedly abducted.
The Tim Houston PC government remains firm in their promise they'll fix the health-care system by spending more taxpayer money on health than any previous government before.
Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island are taking the federal government to court due to the decision to restrict the movement of P.E.I. seed potatoes.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
Manitoba First Nation police have arrested a man connected with a shooting on March 19 on Long Plain First Nation that resulted in the community going on lockdown.
Manitoba’s labour force is growing at a rate to supply enough workers for available positions into 2026, according to the province’s labour market outlook.
Following a court appearance Thursday, a B.C. woman facing more than 20 charges – including manslaughter – in connection with alleged druggings of men who used escort services was remanded into custody.
The man killed in West Vancouver earlier this week was a retired urologist who was involved in several legal disputes over valuable real estate, CTV News has learned.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
Edmonton-born actor Holly Cinnamon describes the Emmy Award winning HBO series Succession as a "cutthroat version" of The Office and "a joy" to work on. She makes her on-screen debut in the upcoming fourth and final season of the show.
Juan Delgado's "Make Denny's Great Again: When Bad Decisions Go Right" image for his 24-hour fundraiser at downtown Toronto Denny's. (Courtesy of Juan Delgado)
Juan Delgado with Nelson Borges, Director of Youth Outreach and Intervention at the YMCA of Greater Toronto. (Courtesy of Juan Delgado)
