A local charity is getting a big holiday boost after local Tim Hortons locations raised over $44,000 through its second annual Holiday Smile Cookie campaign.
With franchises from Orillia, Severn, and Oro-Medonte participating in the local campaign, the funds will be split between The Sharing Place and Tim Hortons Foundations Camps.
With people facing tough times, one local franchisee said he tried to sell as many smile cookies as possible.
“Anything really we can do to help out this time of year,” said local franchise owner, Nick Chapman. “We just really pushed the cookies and tried to raise as much as we can for local charity.”
Chapman thanked customers for their support through the campaign, which ran from Nov. 16-20, and said the funds will help send more kids to camp — on top of helping The Sharing Place through a busy time of year.
For The Sharing Place, the campaign’s recipient for the second year, the funding came during a time where donations are particularly needed.
Given postal issues through the Canada Post strike — which prevented holiday donation reminders going out, and holiday donation cheques from coming in — the food bank estimates it’s around $100,000 below its usual donation figures from this time last year.
“It’s huge,” said development manager Kelly Allen.
“The postal strike has had a really big impact, negative impact on all charitable organizations … so to be able to receive these funds from Tim Hortons for the second year is amazing,” she said. “We're very grateful to all of the work that went into raising them, and it was a community effort.”
Allen said The Sharing Place is “very grateful” for being selected for the campaign, and for the community stepping up to by smile cookies during what can be a difficult time for people.
“The timing of us receiving the funds is meaningful,” she said. “December is often a very challenging time of year, if you're in a bad place, if you're struggling financially or mentally or physically,” she said. “The fact that this is coming at this time, we really appreciate it.”
Each year, The Sharing Place puts together 500 holiday hampers on top of its regular food bank programming, providing families in need with breakfast, Christmas dinner, dessert, and more.
