NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA SOLDIERS’ MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
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Tim Hortons' latest fundraising initiative is sure to spread smiles to staff and children at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital. The restaurant’s annual Smile Cookie Campaign raised more than $41,000 for the Hospital’s Outpatient Pediatric Centre. The amount is just shy of $10,000 more than last year’s Campaign which raised $31,800.
“We are amazed at the support the Campaign received this year and we are so grateful for our loyal customers and extremely hardworking staff for making this such a success,” the owners of Tim Hortons restaurants in Orillia, Ron Harris and Val Hale, said in a joint statement.
All funds will go towards improving care for children and their families who are part of the Hospital’s newly renovated Outpatient Pediatric Centre. The program which includes child cancer care, juvenile diabetes, eating disorder care, asthma, mental health and more, was previously located at four different sites. With the help of community supporters such as Tim Hortons, all services have moved to the second floor of OSMH into the new Outpatient Pediatric Centre, as part of the Hospital’s greater philosophy to “wrap care” around the patient. Now kids who use multiple services of the program will spend less time at the Hospital, and enjoy a transformed family friendly space that includes a gym, murals, iPads and new toys.
“Strong community supporters like Tim Hortons have such an incredible impact on healthcare at our Hospital,” said Nicole Kraftscik, senior development officer, OSMH Foundation. “This strong show of support really demonstrates how committed both Tim Hortons and our local community is to making sure we have state of the art services available to our patients, close to home.”
This year’s Smile Cookie Campaign ran from Sept. 17 – 23 and will support more than 500 local charities and organizations across Canada. The Campaign was launched in 1996 and donates the full $1 price of smile cookies to charities across the country. Last year alone, the campaign raised $6.5 million.
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