The Chatham-Kent totals are in for the annual Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign and one Chatham-Kent charity is getting a big financial boost.
This year, local Tim Hortons owners Guy Pritchard and Mike and Paula Grail donated the local proceeds from every Smile Cookie sale towards the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, raising $69,000 for the cause.
That total is up more than $15,000 from last year's campaign and an increase of more than $32,000 compared to 2021.
Over 140 volunteers from the community, including CTC staff and community members helped with baking and decorating Smile Cookies at the Chatham Armoury kitchen.
Throughout the course of the seven-day campaign, from May 1-7, volunteers baked over 25,000 cookies to assist in bulking up the supply that could be sold to the public.
"Not all services at the Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent are covered by government funding," read a CTC Foundation statement. "Programs like Social Work, Therapeutic Recreation Services and Music Therapy are all funded by the CTC Foundation."
All the proceeds raised from the Smile Cookie Campaign will go towards providing programing and therapy for children that attend the Centre.
The CTC served over 5,000 children in 2022, which equals one in every five Chatham-Kent children.