Edd’s Drive-In works to fight breast cancer

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - The 50′s style diner was made famous for their chili cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Well-known for staff filling orders from memory, without a calculator, and building deep connections with their customers.

Now, Edd’s Drive-In is doing what it can to give back to those customers.

Employees have been involved in the “Power of Pink” campaign going on a decade offering a portion of strawberry shake sales to fund cancer treatments, but this year the campaign is hitting closer to home.

“It strikes a whole new level,” general manager, Susan Parker said.

The restaurant’s general manager in a breast cancer battle of her own.

“It became really relevant to me how important it was to make that a community effort,” Parker said. “I ran into so many people who I knew were my customers but I didn’t even know what they were experiencing until I ran into them at the cancer center.”

Parker was diagnosed in December of 2020, taking what she thought may be her last trip to Disney World in February before beginning treatment.

“It was probably 3 or 4 months into the process before it sunk in,” Parker said. “I just kept saying I’m just going through the motions. It’s not really here, until my first chemotherapy treatment when I realized, this is the real thing.”

A real thing for one in eight women in the United States according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Even though Parker has recently received her cancer-free diagnosis, her fight isn’t over, saying she knew she had to make it to the other side to be a support system for other’s still struggling.

“You have to live your life through the battle, you have to get a support system,” Parker said. “It’s really important you find one and that’s what the cancer center does.”

Not only is the money from strawberry milkshake sales being donated to the Singing River Foundation Cancer Fund, each employee is donating their tips through the entire month.

Copyright 2022 WLOX. All rights reserved.