Smile cookies return, local proceeds to support FCSS

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Smile cookies are back at Tim Horton’s locations across Canada, raising money for local charities nation-wide. In Strathmore, the fundraiser is once again helping out the Strathmore Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).

Smile Cookie is an annual fundraiser put on by Tim Horton’s and each franchise location is allowed to pick a charity that 100 per cent of the proceeds from cookie sales will go towards.

Social Development Coordinator with the Strathmore FCSS, Victoria Odell, said the fundraiser is very popular in town and it generally receives a lot of support. 

“Everybody in Strathmore really loves to promote and support community organizations and so they sell quite a few cookies really early on. We were just jumping in and helping [them] keep up with the need,” she said.

Last year, according to Odell, the smile cookie campaign generated approximately $11,000 for the community. This year, she said the goal is to sell at least 14,000 cookies.     

This metric would both smash the previous record and suggest that every resident of Strathmore bought one cookie.

On Sept. 13, Odell and FCSS Community Support Coordinator Melissa Masse were at the Edgefield Tim Horton’s helping to get smile cookies prepared in the morning.

“From my understanding when we were there, the owner of Tim Horton’s let us know that between 6:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. they had sold 1,500 already,” said Odell.

Strathmore FCSS has been the recipient of the proceeds from the Smile Cookies for the past two years and Odell explained it has been a significant boon to have available for helping the community.

Further, the proceeds from smile cookies do not come with formal spending prerequisites, which allows FCSS to use the funding however the organization decides.

“It really gives us the freedom to help community members on an as needed basis. A lot of grants have stipulations about how you spend the money.”

“Here, when we have situations where people are coming in and they need to get to doctor’s appointments or they just need their basic needs served, we’re able to use that fund to just directly support people who need it,” she said.

This year is the first year Tim Horton’s is doing pre orders of smile cookies that can be paid for ahead of time and picked up in store.

Pre orders must be made 48 hours in advance and the order date must not fall outside of the time smile cookies are being served.

Smile cookies will be available at all participating Tim Horton’s locations until Sept. 19.