THUNDER BAY – A new holiday edition of the Tim Hortons smile cookie fundraiser is looking to take a bite out of poverty and homelessness.
The colourful goodies are now on sale at Tims across Canada after the week-long charitable campaign launched on Monday.
Locally, proceeds will be split evenly between Thunder Bay’s largest homeless shelter and the company’s own foundation, which sends underserved youth to summer camps.
The full before-tax $1.50 cost of the cookies is donated to those groups, the company says.
Brent Prepp, who owns several Tim Hortons franchises in Thunder Bay, said both causes have a deep local impact.
“The Tim Hortons Foundation camp has been around since the ‘70s and supports thousands of kids locally and across the country. We send underprivileged kids to camp, where they learn new skills, get more confidence.
“Then obviously with homelessness all across Canada, it's in the media all the time, we figured the Shelter House would be a perfect place to donate the money and see if we can help get people off the street, especially with wintertime coming.”
The white chocolate sugar cookies have red and green sprinkles baked in, and are each hand-decorated with what the company calls a “perfectly imperfect” smile made of icing.
The fundraiser is a twist on the company’s classic smile cookie campaign, which has been raising funds for Toys for Tots and the George Jeffrey Children's Centre for years.
Last year, cookie sales raised over $80,000 locally.
The holiday cookie campaign wraps up on Sunday, Nov. 19.
