Just some of the bottles that was donated for the Mighty Max bottle drive in Grande Prairie on January 23. Photo Credit: Stacie Genier/Moving Mountains For Mighty Max Facebook page.

By Shane Clausing

Mighty Max

Grande Prairie bottle drive raises over $20,000 for Mighty Max

Feb 1, 2021 | 6:29 PM

The bottle drive that was held on January 23 in Grande Prairie in support of Mighty Max has officially raised $20,180.30.

Organizer Stacy Genier, says she was completely blown away with just how much they were able to fundraise.

“Initially, I was hoping (to raise) $10,000 before we started the fundraiser. I didn’t want to say anything, it’s a lot of money and it was kind of my goal.

“The fact that we doubled what I was hoping would be a goal that I thought was far-fetched was incredible. We couldn’t believe how many bottles there were, it was very surreal to be a part of it. There were literally mountains of bottles that we were dropping off.”

The bottle drive on January 23 asked those who wanted to donate to drop off bottles at nine different designated drop off sites from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

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In total, Genier tells EverythingGP it became apparent once people began dropping off the bottles that volunteers were going to be busy making trips to the bottle depot.

“We had one big trailer that we used and we took three loads to the bottle depot and then we probably had at least nine pickup trucks that were running back and forth.”

The supply of bottles was so large, volunteers had to go back later in the week to drop off another trailer load The supply of bottles collected even maxed out the capacity at the bottle depot.

It took over a week to count all of the bottles and the final cash total was received by Genier on February 1. There was also another $2,000 donated through Mighty Max’s account by people who dropped their bottles off to support the fundraiser.

For those who still want to help Mighty Max and his family, all Grande Prairie bottle depots are still accepting donations for Max. You can also donate through his GoFundMe page.

READ MORE: Fundraising, advocacy continues as family of “Mighty Max” awaits Zolgensma funding application results

Genier adds she plans on attempting to organize another fundraiser for the family after this one was so successful.

“I do plan on doing another one for sure, maybe two. I’m just kind of watching the weather and see how things go there, but we’ve definitely learned from our first one and I definitely know to maybe be prepared with a few more trailers for next time.”