Local Tim Hortons raise Smile Cookie funds for Strathmore FCSS
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Photo Courtesy of Chris Korpi
Tim Hortons locations in Strathmore participated in the annual Smile Cookie Fundraiser, which ran from April 28 until May 4 in town.
As of Apr. 30, Chris Korpi, general manager of one of the local Tim Hortons owner groups, explained his branch had breached the $10,000 mark within the community.
This figure excluded the location attached to Shell, as it is maintained by a different owner group, though it also participated in the Smile Cookie campaign.
“The main thing with the Smile Cookie campaign is Tim Hortons runs the program across the nation. Tim Hortons donates everything, all of the products, every single cookie – we sell the cookies for two dollars, when you buy a cookie for two dollars, every single cent is (donated),” said Korpi. “We are giving (everything) to charity, so that is the big thing that we want to push to let everybody know that all the money is going to a good place. We want to keep the money in the community.”
As a local franchise, Korpi said his family’s locations began their participation in the Smile Cookie campaigns in 2013. Previously, Strathmore’s Tim Hortons locations were grouped together with those of Calgary and nearby municipalities.
Excluding this year, Strathmore’s Tim Hortons have raised approximately $117,000 for charities across southern Alberta.
Going forward, it was decided funds raised through the campaign would be returned to the local community. This year’s campaign in Strathmore saw the fundraiser supporting the Strathmore Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).
“We are really excited about it and it does a lot of good work in the community … it was really important for us that we had the money that we were raising was staying in Strathmore and it was staying locally,” said Korpi. “When we looked around, we felt that FCSS overall was the best charity that reached the most amount of people, and the people who needed the help the most.
“Their programs they do with seniors, they do financial literacy classes, there are a lot of mental health support groups, they work a lot with the youth, the food bank, things like that. It is stuff like that, that we really want to support and we are really happy to do so.”
The overall goal this year between the three locations was to raise $30,000. This figure will not be calculated until following the publication of this article.
Last year, a total of $24,000 was raised through the sales of the Smile Cookies, with each cookie costing $1.50. This year, with the price of each being two dollars, the goal was to raise more without dissuading locals from participating.
Each year, volunteers are welcome to drop in at a Tim Hortons location to help decorate the smile cookies throughout the program. Those who are interested are welcome to speak with local store managers about doing so.
Korpi added those in Strathmore on average tend to purchase approximately three times the national average of smile cookies each campaign period.
Once the final total for sales of smile cookies is calculated, a cheque presentation to the Strathmore FCSS will be scheduled to officially recognize the donation.