THUNDER BAY — Smile Cookies are a fundraiser’s friend.
This spring, the Tim Hortons’ promotion helped raise nearly $97,000 for the George Jeffrey Children’s Foundation and the Firefighters Toys for Tots campaign.
That’s a lot of cookies doing a lot of good, said George Jeffrey Children’s Foundation executive director Cindy Levanto on Monday, after the total from this year’s campaign, one of two events held by the coffee-shop chain each year, was revealed.
“We are thrilled once again to be the recipient of the Smile Cookie campaign that was held in May.
"We’re very grateful again to be sharing it with the Firefighters’ Toys for Tots. It’s just over $48,000, which is tremendous for both organizations,” Levanto said.
The money is key to her organization to continue to provide the services it does to clients in need.
“We support the program enhancements and services that the centre offers that are not covered by government-funded dollars,” Levanto said.
“This past fiscal year the foundation has granted back to the Centre almost $350,000 in revenue that’s come from donated dollars from these events like Smile Cookies.”
Brent Prepp, a local Tim Hortons franchisee in Thunder Bay, said the response to the campaign was fantastic.
“Every year, the community comes together and rallies for our Smile Cookie programs.
"Every year, it just exceeds our expectations. This year's sales were a little down from last year, but we think it has a lot to do with the new Christmas campaign we have, which might take a little away,” Prepp said.
“But in the end, we’re selling a lot more cookies and donating a lot more money locally, so it’s a great program that continues to deliver every year from us.”
Not that this year’s total was anything to sneeze at, he added.
“No, it’s incredible,” Prepp said.
“Almost $100,000 in cookies in one week that the community purchased to support these two great charities. We can’t thank the community enough, and obviously our team members and all of the people who came out to help support and decorate cookies for us.”
