Tuesday morning, it was all smiles in the Morden Tim Hortons, as staff gathered around Big Brothers Big Sisters Pembina Valley Executive Director Jenelle Neufeld for the presentation of the cheque from sales of Smile Cookie Week in Morden and Winkler May 1-7.
Neufeld said they smashed their goal.
"The goal was 20,000 cookies and we surpassed that, so it was a really great turnout. And it's just so amazing to see the community really respond to the sales year after year and the businesses that put in the corporate bulk orders is fantastic, and being Pay It Forward May, I think was a huge asset to us. It was a really successful campaign."
She said the money will go right back into programming.
"We just started our team in-school mentoring. So, that is what our focus is right now. We are nearing the end of the school year, but we are really hopeful to kick that off again in September. We also have our Go-Girls programming, which is our group programming and our one-on-one mentoring in the community. All of the money always goes back into our programming."
Owners Jeff and Linda Doerksen have partnered with the organization for the 19 years they have been in business, starting in their Winkler location and adding Morden, two years later.
Linda noted customers say the cookies taste close to the cookies they sell year-round but are better because of the smile on them and the good cause they support.
"We are so proud to say that we raised just over $30,000 for Big Brothers and Big Sisters and it was incredible to do that, and our team did an amazing job. Everyone just worked so hard, made cookies - so many cookies. It was good and I'm just so thankful for the community for supporting this program."
Neufeld expressed her gratitude for the ongoing support and described what it means for the organization.
"Because this is one of those campaigns that we're able to budget for, because Linda and Jeff are so amazing with selecting us year after year, so it's something that we can depend on, looking back on our budgets in past years, seeing the difference in the amount that has been budgeted, I think only maybe seven years ago it was like $7600 was the budgeted amount and now we're over 30. It's amazing to see the growth not only in Jeff and Linda's business, but also in how that relates to how they support the community. So, it's absolutely fantastic and we're so thankful."