THUNDER BAY – Luckily, Thunder Bay seems to have a bit of a sweet tooth.
It comes in handy when Smile Cookies go on sale at the local Tim Hortons outlets, last year helping to raise more than $74,000 for the Thunder Bay Professional Firefighters’ Toys for Tots campaign and the George Jeffrey Children’s Foundation.
The two charities split the take evenly, with the $1 proceeds from each cookie sold turned over to the two organizations.
The generosity of the cookie-buying public goes a long way, said Cindy Levanto-Kawahara, executive director at the George Jeffrey Children’s Foundation.
“There are so many things that fundraising dollars are needed for,” she said. “We’re putting an accessible fitness initiative at the centre. We’re going to be building accessible workout equipment so the kiddos that are going to be going out into the adult world will know how to use gym equipment.
“We recently added dimming switches to all the clinical rooms. Right now they’re on motion sensors and the kids who have sensitivity to light need to have the dimming capability.”
Levanto-Kawahara said it’s a good thing residents of the city like a good cookie and a good cause or two.
“It’s awesome. People are just waving and smiling and honking. Come on out and your Smile Cookie, it’s going to a great cause,” she said on Monday, launching the week-long campaign.
Paul Penna, co-chair of the Toys for Tots program, said the $37,000 his organization received last year is a great start to their campaign, which each year funds the purchase of Christmas gifts for children who might otherwise go without.
Though they don’t set a goal, they usually aim to raise about $150,000 each year.
“We’ve partnered with Tim Hortons and their Smile Cookie campaign for close to 10 years. It’s been huge for us. It always kick-starts our campaign and without it we’d be that much further back each year. It’s grown for us,” Penna said.
Levanto-Kawahara said the goal this year is to sell 80,000 cookies.
Smile Cookies can be found at all local Tim Hortons outlets between now and Sunday.
