Record-breaking year for local Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Campaign

By Serena Lapointe

This year was a record-breaking one for the Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Campaign, which ran

from April 28 to May 4. Not only were the numbers high locally, but they were also higher on the

national level. Local Tim Hortons owner, Tony Sgro, said it was a fantastic year for everyone.

“Nationally, we’ve normally been in that 16-18 million dollars range. This year, 22.6 million was

raised!”

And locally, the rise was nearly double. “We almost got to ten thousand last year. So, we almost

doubled our donation for this year. We raised just over $19,000. It was probably the smoothest

campaign we’ve ever run. We have so much support from our community sponsors, and it was

a pleasure to work with them. We had our biggest year by far, and all of that was due to

community support.”

And the best part? The money raised locally stays in the community. This year’s recipient of the

funds is the Community Lunch Box Society (CLB). Up until recently, the Boys and Girls Club

were the long-time recipient, but with their recent unfortunate closure, Sgro had to choose a

new non-profit to donate to, and he chose CLB.

Working with the Boys and Girls Club and now CLB has been a pleasure for Sgro. “They’re so

wonderful. The commitment and the compassion that they have to do good in our community

are truly second to none. It is a pleasure to work alongside them.”

For Tara Baker, Chair and Founder of CLB, the feeling is mutual. “We were really fortunate that

Tim Hortons reached out to our team and that we were able to connect and make it a go for an

awesome first year. We are giddy with joy to be selected. We’ve always bought cookies either

personally or for our team members every year because we saw the benefit and understood its

impact,” she said.

Sgro said he is happy to get to partner with Baker and the CLB team. “I’ve worked with Tara lots

in the past, and she’s been such a wonderful partner. This was the right move for Smile Cookie

and our charitable partner. We are happy to partner with them indefinitely.”

He said having such a big group as part of the campaign makes it smooth. “It’s such a huge

help to have them. We alone are unable to handle the volume of cookies the community is

looking for. The volunteer support is the difference between a truly successful campaign and

what could otherwise be.”

He said they’ve never seen such large orders as they did this year. “We had such an outpouring

of support. The orders we saw coming in this year were the largest we’ve ever seen and the

most we’ve ever seen. It’s an amazing level of support from the community.” Sgro said around

9,600 cookies were made, decorated and sold out of his two Whitecourt Tim Hortons locations.

“One of my favourite things is that when you’re making close to ten thousand cookies in a week,

some of the faces are a little bit interesting. Some of the social media stuff that comes out with

some of the wonky faces people get is pretty funny,” laughed Sgro.

Baker said she loved seeing the CLB and community volunteers working alongside one another

and having fun. “We had a high school student volunteering at the same time as one of our

senior volunteers, and a friendship was made. Those are some of the cool stories that are

outcomes of having these awesome opportunities.”

She said not only do they gain financially from the experience, but CLB staff also gain from the

meaningful, inclusive volunteer opportunities. “It was an inclusive volunteer experience because

the building was accessible, and lots of our volunteers who have staff were able to bring those

staff with them. One of my favourite parts of the experience was seeing and knowing that our

volunteers were having fun,” said Baker.

Knowing that Sgro wants to keep CLB as a long-term recipient of the Smile Cookie Campaign is

significant for CLB. “It creates a sense of security that we can rely on that funding to support the

food portion of our programs because it’s something that we think about all the time. Even

though we won’t know the amount ahead of time each year, just knowing that funding will be

coming is security for us, because the need has substantially increased over the last few years.”

Baker said seeing the community’s support was incredible. “Having the community come

together to support something in such a positive way was special. Businesses, organizations,

and companies were buying cookies in large volumes and giving them to schools, and

delivering them to different places to spread kindness. There were people spreading smiles and

kindness like cookie confetti,” said Baker.

“To all the people who purchased, whether it was one or 100, thank you,” said Baker. “And to

the staff at both Tim Hortons locations, thank you for making us feel like we were part of the

team!” Baker also thanked Ashleigh Bulmer, CLB Administrative Coordinator, for organizing all

the volunteers. “She gets everyone where they need to be. She’s a star!”

On July 4, a big group of CLB volunteers and staff, joined by Tim Hortons staff and Sgro, posed

for one of the happiest group shots ever, as CLB accepted a check for $16,346.35. “We are so

grateful. We’ve even had people reach out, asking how they can volunteer with us, and have

people lined up to help next year. This experience has been nothing short of wonderful.”