Bugles finally thrown into the mix

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This article was published 27/12/2022 (999 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The call of the Bugle was answered by many generous people in Brandon who wanted to donate to local charities, but also hoped to get their hands on a delicious but discontinued snack.

Bugles are a cone-shaped corn snack, and a favourite ingredient for many people who make nuts-and-bolts for Christmas. Other fans of Bugles use them as “finger hats.” But earlier this year, Bugles were discontinued in Canada, making them a much sought-after treat.

In early December, a social media raffle was launched by a local Facebook group People of Brandon when page administrator Amber Burchart saw a bag of Bugles included in the food donations for their hamper program. She said it was an off-the-cuff remark that got the ball rolling.

“It kind of started as a joke,” said Burchart. “Donations were brought in for our hamper drive and there was a bag of Bugles in there, and we said ‘wow, everybody wants Bugles.’ So, I said we should auction these off, and everybody was like, ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’”

There would eventually be an auction for the Bugles, but first came two rounds of a raffle with the money raised to be divided among Brandon and Westman Christmas Cheer, 10 Christmas hampers for local families and the Men’s Resource Centre of Brandon. Facebook prohibits raffles on its platform, so Burchart and her fellow administrators had to get creative and named it the “Great Bugles Waffle.”

In the first round of the raffle, there were two bags of Bugles up for grabs, and the group raised $370. There were two winners, Lauren Wilken and Laura Brown, and they both decided to donate their Bugles back.

In the meantime, the campaign caught the eye of Amy McDonald and her family. In a Facebook message to the Sun, McDonald said it was her sons, Cooper and Mason, who suggested they donate the Bugles they had in their home. For those keeping track, at that point the People of Brandon Facebook group had more bags of Bugles than when they first started trying to raffle them off to raise money for charity.

Burchart and her fellow group administrators decided to launch a second round of the raffle as well as a contest with Christmas kindness theme.

“We did a post asking what good deed people would do for a bag of Bugles,” said Burchart. “The lady who won donated it back. So, we say to each other, we have all these Bugles, it’s Christmas, let’s do an auction.”

The auction item was three bags of Bugles, and the winning bidders were Ron and Barb Kristjansson. Ron said the shortage of Bugles was a concern in their household.

“My wife Barb always makes nuts-and-bolts with Bugles, and the non-availability this year was a hot topic,” Kristjansson said. “She bought into the first round of Bugle ‘waffle’ on the People of Brandon Facebook page, and we just thought it would be a fun way to support the community.”

After all the Bugle back-and-forth, the good deed contest and final auction, $555 was raised.

Burchart is already thinking about next year, and how she and the other administrator of their Facebook page, Chelsey Dauphinais, can partner with sponsors to help make an even bigger impact for charity.

“We’re impressed with how everything went. We started with no expectations, and we raised enough to donate to the charities we wanted to. And it was fun. We made sure that people got their Bugles so they can have their nuts-and-bolts.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun. com

» Twitter: @enviromichele