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The Sean Sargent "A-Team" van will be making the rounds, delivering 20,000 smile cookies to local schools, among many others in the community (Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP staff)
By Shaun Penner
Tim Horton's Campaign

Purchase of 20,000 smile cookies kicks off annual campaign in Grande Prairie

Sep 8, 2021 | 9:31 AM

The annual Tim Horton’s smile cookie campaign kicked off in Grande Prairie Wednesday with the purchase of 20,000 cookies, which will be donated to local schools and many others in the community.

The annual campaign sees $1 from every smile cookie sold go towards local charitable initiatives in the communities the company serves, which in Grande Prairie’s case goes toward the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation.

The initial 20,000 cookies were purchased by local businessman Sean Sargent on behalf of the Sargent Family Foundation, Ken Sargent GMC and Sean Sargent Toyota. Sargent has been purchasing the mass quantity of cookies to kick off the campaign annually for the last several years.

Many of the 20,000 cookies will be delivered to schools in the Grande Prairie area (Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP staff)

Sargent, who delivers the cookies to local schools, the college and first responders among many others in the community in his patented ‘A-Team’ van, says he was not able to deliver the cookies directly to the kids at local schools last year due to COVID restrictions, so he is looking forward to seeing the smiles on kids’ faces again.

“I really miss going in and seeing the kids and getting all the pictures inside and outside with the kids,” said Sargent. “This year, we are really looking forward to seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces.”

Major Gifts Officer for the Regional Hospital Foundation Dawn Miller says the money raised from the local smile cookie campaign will go towards a play centre and teen lounge in the pediatric unit at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.

She says after raising around $65,000 last year though the campaign, she is hoping the community can try to beat that mark this year.

“We just about hit $68,000 one year, so that’s a cookie for every resident in Grande Prairie,” noted Miller.

Major Gifts Officer for the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation Dawn Miller helps box up some of the 20,000 smile cookies purchased Wednesday (Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP staff)

Miller says she and the foundation are grateful to Sargent for the generous support throughout the years, which has helped them raise over $350,000 over the last several years hrough the smile cookie campaign.

Sargent says while he enjoys bringing many smiles to the community through the initiative, he says he hopes his donation creates a bit of a snowball effect.

“Hopefully, it also pays it forward, that the people that are getting the cookies, especially all the kids and students in school, that they will understand the meaning of giving back to your community,” said Sargent. “And down the road, they will be doing the same thing, in different ways.”

Smile cookies will be sold at Tim Horton’s locations across Grande Prairie from Sept. 13-19.

by Shaun Penner