A familiar friendly face is back
The annual Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Campaign kicked off Monday with 100 per cent of the proceeds supporting local charities. It runs Sept. 19-25.
In Sudbury, proceeds will support health care improvements, the food bank and the annual CTV Lions Children's Christmas Telethon.
Tim Hortons's annual smile cookie campaign benefitting three local charities launched Monday at the location on Lasalle Boulevard and Barrydowne Road in Sudbury. Sept. 19/22 (Alana Everson/CTV Northern Ontario)
Those involved hope this year will be another record-breaking year.
"It's really good. Every shift competes with the other to see who can make more, sell more, it makes it a really fun time," said Marian McKenzie, a Sudbury area Tim Hortons franchisee.
"And guests come in and they are always ready to buy them. Who wouldn't want to smile and give a smile?"
Of the $1 that is collected for each cookie, the total amount goes to the three local charities.
At Sudbury's hospital, Health Sciences North, that includes improving patient care and equipment.
"A hospital is a very expensive machine to run and as a regional healthcare centre we also care from patients from a geographical area that covers almost 600,000 people," said Kristofer Cacciotti, a community engagement and events specialist with the HSN Foundation.
The proceeds from smile cookies will also help feed the hungry.
"The need right now is just so incredible it almost flabbergasts the mind. Every month, you keep thinking 'it can't be any more people needing the food bank than what we are already serving,' but it still goes up. We are getting 25 per cent increases on the previous month increases," said Dan Xilon, the executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank.
The CTV Lion's Children's Christmas telethon also receives money raised through the sale of smiles cookies. Last year, it helped several thousand families.
"We have over 18,000 toys that went out. That's from Thessalon, Ont., all the way to Onaping Falls, and to Markstay and Noelville, French River. Just a huge area the telethon covers every year," said Sam Khoury, the chairperson of the CTV Lions Children's Christmas Telethon.
Tim Hortons restaurant owners in the Sudbury area said the community supported the smile cookie campaign last year in record numbers raising $153,000, which was split among the three local charities.
The smile cookie campaign is running at Tim Hortons locations across Canada.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
W5 Investigates | Daniel Jolivet insists he's not a murderer and says he has proof
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.

China balloon: Many questions about suspected spy in the sky
The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. A look at what's known about the balloon crossing the U.S. and what isn't.
One in four Canadian cancer patients still experiencing cancelled appointments: survey
In the field of cancer treatment, nothing is more important than diagnosing and treating the problem as quickly as possible — but according to new survey data, about one in four Canadian cancer patients report that they are still experiencing cancelled or postponed appointments.
Oldest preserved vertebrate brain found in 319-million-year-old fish fossil
The oldest preserved vertebrate brain has been found in a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish skull that was removed from an English coal mine over a century ago.
Canada tracked suspected Chinese spy balloon over Canadian airspace since last weekend: sources
The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was found floating over sensitive military sites in the western United States had been tracked by Canada's government since last weekend as it passed through Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.
Former NHL-er Ted Nolan among Indigenous players honoured in new hockey card series
It took 40 years, but former NHL player and coach Ted Nolan is now one of eight Indigenous ex-NHL-ers being honoured hockey trading cards as a part of Upper Deck's First Peoples Rookie Card series.
B.C. man who was mistaken for target, shot by police in 2013 has lawsuit dismissed
A B.C. man who was mistaken for the target in a police takedown and shot by an officer in 2013 has had his lawsuit alleging negligence dismissed.
Bodies are those of 3 rappers missing nearly 2 weeks: Detroit police
Three bodies found in a vacant Detroit-area apartment building have been identified as those of three aspiring rappers who went missing nearly two weeks ago, police said Friday.
Maid's son tells judge Alex Murdaugh took US$4M for her death
For much of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial, witnesses have talked about a generous and loving man -- but prosecutors want jurors to know that same man stole over US$4 million from his housekeeper's relatives after she died at work, and killed his wife and son to cover up his crimes.