Last week Wednesday, Tim Hortons locations across Canada joined together with their customers to raise money for the Tim Hortons Foundation Camp initiative with their Camp Day campaign raising over $13 million in total!
Tim Horton's Canada Camp Day provides camp experiences and year-round programming for youth from under-served communities across Canada and the United States.
This summer 17 kids from the Westman Region are attending camp through the Tim Horton's campaign, says Rhonda Pardy, owner of the Tim Horton's Westman locations franchise.
"We did terrific! We did over $20,000 that day," shares Pardy. "We had a very successful Camp Day in Brandon, and we're thrilled. We're thrilled!"
On Thursday, the day after Camp Day, two counsellors from the Tim Hortons Children's Ranch in Kananaskis, Alberta, picked up 17 campers from the Westman area and chauffeured them to the WestJet flight to Calgary to go to camp in Kananaskis.
Pardy says this will be a life-changing experience for these young people.
"For a lot of them it's their first time on an airplane, first time to camp. They'll make friendships that will last a long, long time. We do have a couple of campers that were going for follow-up time. They went last year and then they're going back as they're now in the leadership program," she adds.
"And, for these kids camp is a lot more than just a week of fun and good food," explains Pardy. "It is friendships, but they're learning so much about themselves. They come home with a new outlook on what's outside of Brandon. They come back with self-confidence. They come back with skills. They come back with some dreams for going back to camp or doing bigger things down the road. It's really exciting to see how motivated they get and inspired and just who they are and what they can do!"
The Westman Region supported the Tim Horton's Camp Day with a number of extra incentives just to raise money for these kids. A garage sale was held at one of the Brandon locations, kids sold special bracelets and businesses came with their staff to fill up on coffee, hot and cold, to keep the money raising momentum going throughout the day.
Pardy says it was truly amazing to see everyone come together to purchases coffees and to do what it took raise money, even washing car windows! She adds this has made the day that much more special, all to help kids to go summer camp.
"We get to hear the stories when these kids come back from camp," she shares. "We have these campers stand up at our conventions and share their stories of camp and how it changed them. You know, some of these kids are in university and colleges now, and they tell us how it was the camp experience for them as a child that really changed their future and the way they wanted to live and what they wanted to do. So, it's very, very rewarding and it's our community that's doing that for these kids!"
Tim Horton's Camp Day has been a cornerstone of the foundation's fundraising efforts since its inception in 1991, with over $262 million raised to date. The proceeds from hot and iced coffee sales on Camp Day are donated to the Foundation, which has supported more than 325,000 youth in its history.
The initiative began close to 40 years ago in 1987 when 58 restaurant owners in Atlantic Canada donated 24 hours of sales to support the Tim Horton Children's Camp in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia located on the shores of the Northumberland Strait. The Camp Day event is a testament to the community's commitment to helping youth achieve their full potential, states the Tim Horton's website.
(Photo credit Tim Hortons Facebook page)
