The A&W resturant on Gordon Drive turned back time Thursday, as a couple of classic cruisers rolled up to the drive thru for a good cause.

It was the seventh annual Cruisin’ to end MS event held at 840 A&W restaurants across the country, where a dollar from every teen burger sold is donated to the MS Society of Canada.

Since its inception the event has raised $6.5 million in the first six years of the campaign, with $1.45 million raised last year.

Locally, both the A&W on Gordon and on Harvey have raised more than they did last year.

Michelle Hewitt, the Okanagan MS Chapter Chair, said having the event raises the profile locally which is really important in letting people know about the society and about the support they can give.

“We want them to know we have an excellent program for supporting people locally.”

Hewitt knows first hand about the kind of support the Okanagan Chapter can give, after being diagnosed with MS just seven years ago.

She says she was a school principal back then and was preparing to head back to class after the Labour Day weekend when she had a funny feeling in her feet. Several days later she was in the hospital. She would never walk normally again and within six months she was confined to a wheel chair.  

“To know there is money coming in for (MS) research and this thing that has taken my life away, changed it. I was a working school principal and now I am somebody who's only out of bed for eight hours a day, but with the pace of change with research hopefully there will be a cure in my lifetime."

Hewitt says Canada is the world leader in research for MS and it is something she is proud of. It’s events like these that help to continue that research.

Canada has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world, with one in 280 individuals living with MS, making it Canada’s disease. MS is one of the most common neurological diseases among young adults in the country, attacking the central nervous system, and affecting vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility.