All the proceeds raised from the annual Tim Horton’s Smile Cookie Campaign will be donated to the Chestermere Regional Food Bank for the purchase and upkeep of a new vehicle.
“It’s nice for a community like ours to be able to keep the money in the community,” said Chestermere Regional Food Bank President Laurie Dunn.
The early 2000’s minivan that food bank volunteers are currently using does not meet the safety standards that are required by Occupational Health and Safety.
“Our goal is to keep our volunteers safe while they are performing duties for the food bank,” Dunn said.
“The vehicle is old, and it doesn’t have proper safety equipment for transporting things like food,” she said.
“There needs to be a barrier between the driver and the cargo. We are picking up food, transporting food, and delivering food, we need to make sure we have the appropriate safety equipment,” she added.
This year, Owner of Tim Horton’s Andrew Marriott had the opportunity to bring the funds collected from the Smile Cookie Campaign back into Chestermere.
Marriott chose to donate the proceeds raised from the campaign to the Chestermere Regional Food Bank for the next two years. The funds will stay in the community moving forward.
“It’s always been my intent to keep the funds raised in Chestermere in Chestermere,” Marriott said.
“We were super excited that he chose the food bank,” Dunn said.
Throughout the duration of the Smile Cookie Campaign, Dunn has seen local businesses get involved and purchase smile cookies for coworkers or clients.
“Businesses are getting on board. It’s great, and we certainly appreciate the support,” Dunn said.
Daily, the Chestermere Tim Horton’s sold roughly 800 to 900 cookies which are all hand decorated and baked every day.
“We hope to raise over $6,000 that’s over 6000 cookies,” Marriott said.
Dunn had the opportunity to go into Tim Horton’s during the first day of the Smile Cookie Campaign and hand-decorate roughly 100 cookies.
“We were decorating hot cookies. We couldn’t keep up. The demand was so great,” Dunn said.
