From September 12-18 residents of Sylvan Lake and area will have the chance to support the Urgent Care movement through the purchase of a smile cookie at Tim Horton’s.
For the past four years Sylvan Lake Tim Horton’s has been donating the proceeds from the smile cookie campaign to the Sylvan Lake and Area Urgent Care Committee.
Owner of Sylvan Lake Tim Horton’s, Jean-Paul Doucette explained typically restaurants are encourage to support charities for around three years before switching to another cause, however on a local level he feels there is nobetter cause than Urgent Care.
“As a business owner and a resident of Sylvan Lake I see the need for urgent care in our community,” said Doucette. “Until their is an urgent care facility up and running it will stay being our engaged charity. It’s such a massivecause for Sylvan Lake - everyone comes out and everyone supports it.”
“This is something the town needs so it’s definitely something that we want to stick with.”
Doucette added in some communities across Canada, other Tim Horton’s owners have found it challenging to even get the charity to acknowledge the restaurant is fundraising for them aside from the day they stop to pick up acheque explaining it can be tough to get people engaged.
“But in Sylvan Lake that’s certainly not the case,” said Doucette. “We see so much engagement during smile cookie week from not only the community but also the Urgent Care Committee. At any given time during the week youcan see volunteers working the drive-thru, handing out information and just generally being on hand to help. It’s incredible.”
This year’s Smile Cookie week also features a fun addition for those who’ve had their fill of cookies with the addition of the car stickers.
“Sometimes people don’t want a cookie or they’ve already bought a few but they want to contribute again, so this year with the stickers it’s fantastic,” said Doucette.
Last year’s event saw 10,000 cookies being sold in the Sylvan Lake location, Doucette said this year the bakers are at it again and ready to keep up with demand.
“These cookies are baked, allowed to cool and then decorated by hand - they aren’t stamped some where in a factory,” he explained. “So that means last year our bakers decorated 10,000 cookies.”
editor@sylvanlakenews.com