YORKTON – Tim Hortons presented a cheque worth $8,185 to the Health Foundation the morning of Dec. 9, thanks to the efforts of their Holiday Smile Cookie Campaign.
"These proceeds will help us buy equipment in the hospital which is pretty important for a lot of the care that we're able to provide throughout the whole of the region," said Ross Fisher, Executive Director of the Health Foundation, during a scrum after the presentation.
Fisher noted the campaign's success for the second year running, emphasizing the community spirit and volunteer effort involved.
"It's actually a lot of fun and it takes a lot of people because you're here for seven days and you have the two locations. You have volunteers in three-hour shifts — we have a lot of people that come through and help on the program."
"We want to express our appreciation to the volunteers but also for Tim Hortons for doing this all across the country. It's a tremendous program and it generates a lot of money for charities and for disadvantaged kids in the camps that they provide support for," said Fisher.
Fisher said the funds raised will support the expansion of the chemotherapy program at the local hospital, including the addition of the taxane drug regimen, which will benefit approximately 30 per cent of chemotherapy patients.
"That's a big project for us coming up," said Fisher.
"It did very well. We were very happy to support the community with the partnership with the Health Foundation. It's a fantastic thing to do," said Mauricio Gomez, Owner of the local Tim Horton's.
Gomez noted the company's commitment to community support.
"Tim Hortons is very focused on helping out — giving back to the community," said Gomez.
"It's a very good cause because the donation is going to go to the Health Foundation and it's for the community," said Vishal Sharma, Manager at Tim Horton's.
Sharma said that this year's campaign raised $8,185, with half of the proceeds going to the Health Foundation and the other half to the Tim Hortons Children Foundation.
"It was a big support from the community," said Sharma.
The Holiday Smile Cookie Campaign had cookies priced at $1.50 each, ran from Nov. 18-24 and raised $10.7M across the country with 100 per cent of proceeds destined for local charities, community groups and Tim Hortons Foundation Camps.