Four thousand, five hundred, and ninety-five reasons to smile!

If you happened to order a smile cookie from either of the local Tim Hortons restaurants during the fundraising campaign back in September, then you played a role in a heartwarming moment at the Boys & Girls Club of Whitecourt & District on Wednesday, November 6 even if you weren’t there in person. That’s because the franchise owner, Tony Sgro, was at the club with a big cheque in hand, literally, to present this year’s proceeds. The club’s Executive Director, Kyra Baranowski, didn’t know what the total was until she picked up the cheque from the counter.

“Oh my gosh,” she said as her hand went up to her mouth and tears filled her eyes. The moment was special for everyone, especially Sgro, who had a huge smile on his face. For the past eight years, ever since Tim Hortons began the Smile Cookie Campaign, its choice was to support the Boys & Girls Club. “We get to pick the local charity, and we partnered with them right from the beginning,” he said. “We think they do a great service for local kids. They are a pillar in the community, and we are glad to partner with them.”   

This year, residents and businesses purchased 4,595 smile cookies, and the club received one dollar for each cookie. “It was more than last year. It was nice to see that the community came out and supported this great campaign for us. We are super excited about smile cookies every year. It’s great to support local charities,” said Sgro.

The donation will be a great help for Baranowski and the staff because it is unrestricted. Unlike grants or other donations that might be specific, this donation enables them to use it however they need to. “This is massive for us. We do a nutrition program at the club. We feed the kids breakfast and snack for our before and after school program. Often food isn’t covered through grants so when we apply for one, we can use it for our programming and sometimes administration costs, but it never covers our food. This donation can help cover the nutrition program for us.”

At the beginning of the year, Baranowski said the club committed to increasing nutrition for the children and that this donation will help with that. They are incorporating fruits and vegetables and are teaching the children how to cook. “These funds from Tim Hortons are going to go towards that nutrition program. We are going to make sure we are feeding all our kids when we have 40 kids here with us each day. They are going to be going home fed and will be feeding themselves nutritious meals as well.”

At just shy of five thousand dollars, it is the most significant donation yet. “Thank you for spending your hard-earned dollars on us. You could be taking it to any business or organization and spending it on whatever you want so the fact that you chose to spend that dollar towards us means the world. To have 4,600 cookies sold in this community with the funds coming back to support us, I’m overwhelmed,” she said.

Sgro said he wants to thank everyone, too. “Thank you to the local businesses and residents that supported this program. It’s going to a great spot. Thank you, Whitecourt!” If you haven’t yet ventured to the downtown Tim Hortons location, you’ll want to stop in when you get the chance. It was recently revamped inside and out and features some special additions. Hockey is a strong theme, and there are quite a few details worth seeing in person including a mask light shade, rink table, and even a lucky loonie on the floor.