THUNDER BAY — Just call Thunder Bay the city with the giant sweet tooth.
Hungry residents snapped up more than 65,000 Tim Hortons holiday cookies, helping raise more than $32,650 for Shelter House.
Another $32,650 from the campaign, which builds off the already popular Smile Cookie campaign, was donated to the Tim Hortons Children’s Foundation.
Paul Capon, president of the Shelter House Board of directors, said he was stunned to see just how much support the Holiday Cookie program generated in such a short period of time.
“We are so grateful for this wonderful gift. It truly put a smile on my face and on our faces. We had no idea the level of support that was there and we’re very pleased. This very much will help Shelter House in its mission and duty to help those less fortunate in housing and feeding people. We really do appreciate this,” Capon said.
The money couldn’t have come at a better time.
Shelter House has faced funding issues in the recent past, and was forced to shut down its SOS program due to lack of money.
While the Tim Horton’s donation won’t bring the program back, it will help offset increasing costs in other areas.
“Food is one of the biggest items. The cost of food, we see now, has gone up and the ability to provide food for people at the Shelter House, both residents as well as some of those coming in off the street has been a challenge. This very much will help in our food budget to provide that sustenance to people to eat and have a good day,” Capon said.
Franchise owner Brent Prepp said it never ceases to amaze him just how much residents of Thunder Bay get behind the cookie campaigns.
“For a first year, we were absolutely amazed at how many cookies we sold. We actually ran out of the holiday cookies and we had to go to the chocolate chip cookies,” Prepp said. “We know for next year and know to be prepared to sell more of these cookies.”
It’s just a great feeling, he added.
“The community supports Smile Cookies so well every year, and every year keeps getting bigger and bigger and the support just gets stronger. It really says a lot about the community of Thunder Bay trying to help people less fortunate.”
