Sweet Treats Help Hospice

By: Ryan Percy

Tim Hortons employees at the 48 locations across Windsor are taking part in the company’s Smile Cookie Campaign.

From Sept. 17 to 23, one hundred per cent of each dollar in Smile Cookie sales will go to local charities in the region of each location. For the 2018 campaign the Windsor franchises selected The Hospice of Windsor and Essex County to receive the donations.

In 2017 the Smile Cookie Campaign in Windsor raised around $102,000 to share between Maryvale Adolescent & Family Services and the John McGivney Children’s Centre. This was up roughly 11 per cent from the previous year.

Sarah Eagen, 28, is the assistant manager at Tim Hortons on University Avenue West. She said the Tim Hortons staff in the city set their sights on outdoing last year.

“[The goal is] anything better than last year,” said Eagen, “even if it is a dollar more.”

The Hospice of Windsor and Essex County opened in 1979, headed by Reverend Canon Paul Chidwich, as North America’s first community based palliative hospice care village.

A spokesperson for Hospice, Shannon Barnwell, said money raised will go towards providing activities and programs at no cost to participants. The money will also go towards covering the cost of adding two more beds to Hospice.

“Anyone that has a life altering diagnosis, they come to Hospice for support and to get involved to better their lives and these programs continue to help them,” Barnwell said.

From the start in 1996, helping the Hamilton Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ont., the Smile Cookie Campaign has grown and after 22 years is raising funds across North America, Britain and as far away as the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.