Piles and piles of delicious free cookies will be a means to connection in Altona on November 20th.
“It was all about selling cookies initially, and as we sat together as a team, we started to imagine what it would look like if we weren't just thinking about selling cookies,” says Paul Peters, the executive director of The Community Exchange (TCE) in Altona. “[We thought] that maybe the cookies could be a gateway into something else [like] building connections or community building, and so we came up with an idea.”
Peters is discussing TCE’s involvement in Tim Hortons’ Holiday Smile Cookie campaign, which runs from November 18th to the 24th. The restaurant sells cookies for $1.50 for the entire week, and a chosen organization gets half the proceeds while the other half goes to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps.
This year in Altona, The Community Exchange was chosen.
“We were excited that we get to be the organization that does it,” says Peters.
It’s the cookie blitz!
TCE has come up with an ambitious one-day event to go along with the campaign — along with smiles and the spirit of the season, they plan to bring cookies door to door in what Peters has labelled an “Altona-wide cookie blitz.”
“The whole idea was, what if in one night, the opposite of a food drive, . . . we were bringing cookies to every house?” he says, adding that at first, the project seemed too involved, but the organization decided to commit to it. “We're going to have 30 to 40 cars on the road all at one time from 4:30 to 8:00 on November 20th, which is Wednesday. Our goal is to put a cookie in the hand of every resident in Altona.”
Going out into the community to deliver cookies face to face is just the sort of thing that aligns with TCE’s mission as an organization that strives to create safe spaces for everyone in the community.
“We're all about building connection. Our goal is to bring people together in ways that expose each other to people we may not have met before, build relationships, [and] build community,” says Peters. “It's our hope as a space here in the centre of Altona that we become a place people feel comfortable coming.”
Peters hopes cookies at one’s door will be a good icebreaker.
“The idea of going around and handing out cookies is that now the cookie is connecting people to each other,” he says. “It may be a small act to knock on the door, [but] . . . hopefully it . . . puts a smile on [each person’s] face. It’s less about the smile on the cookie, and now we're putting a smile on somebody's face.”
It’s Peters’ dream that each person in Altona will have the chance to forge a new connection through the cookie blitz, however small and simple.
“We have people who are a part of our volunteer base who are excited to be the ones handing out those cookies or driving the vehicle,” he says. “At the end of the day, it's about building community.”
Widespread buy-in
A great deal of help from local businesses has ensured that the cookies brought door to door in Altona will be free of charge.
“The cool thing about this is we went around and pitched the idea to a number of businesses and individuals within the community and were able to raise the funds,” says Peters. “The Town of Altona jumped on board really quickly. It was really neat. We were able to go talk to Council there and very quickly they said, ‘We love this.’ Again, it’s less about the cookie. The cookie is really just an avenue to connection, and that’s what excites us and has excited businesses.”
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Peters says TCE has also seen support from The RM of Rhineland, West Park Motors, Red River Mutual, and Keltek Safety Apparel in Morden, to name a few.
Peters says so much support has poured in that TCE had extra funds to buy cookies for everyone at Roseau River as well. They will work with the Makoons Centre to distribute cookies in this community.
“It shows that people were on board,” Peters says of all the support.
How to get involved in the fun
For anyone who would like to be a part of the magic on November 20th from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., TCE could always use more help. Peters invites anyone who is interested in helping with distribution to call him at 204-216-1788 or send an email to paul@tcealtona.ca. He says the best system is to have a minimum of two people in the vehicle — one to drive and one to hand out cookies.
“The other way that people could assist is [with decorating cookies],” says Peters. “We do have a number of people that have already put their name in to decorate, but if somebody's really passionate about that, they could contact us, and we could add them to the list. We'll be decorating upwards of 4,500 cookies.”
Peters says that purchasing additional smile cookies at Tim Hortons is another way to help.
“If you're at Tim Hortons and they ask you to buy a cookie, it's $1.50, buy a cookie and then if you don't want it, imagine who you might pass that off to and what that might do for their day. I think we'd be surprised at how little acts of kindness can [affect] someone,” he says.
Peters says pinning down the logistics for the big night has been a big job, but the team at TCE is happy to do it. They believe in the project.
Once the deliveries are made on November 20th, everyone from TCE will gather at the organization’s headquarters to unwind around the fire with a much-deserved hot chocolate.
See the articles linked below for two other Holiday Smile Cookie operations in Winkler and Morden.
With files from Candace Derksen