For another year, Tim Horton’s smile cookies are supporting a community project in Morris.
Each spring, the Smile Cookie campaign awards 100 per cent of its proceeds over the course of the week to a deserving local charity or organization.
Phase Two of Willow Park has been chosen as this year’s recipient, with cookie sales from April 29 to May 5 going toward the project.
Willow Park is the passion project of Janice Graydon and Melissa Lamotte. In late 2021, the pair put forward a proposal to revitilize a small play area existing beside the Morris ball diamonds on the south end of town. They envisioned a fun, inclusive, and accessible space where people of all ages could gather and engage.
With the help of many local businesses and individual cash donations, the Willow Park playground, one of the largest playgrounds in Manitoba, opened to community families last summer.
Lamotte and Graydon’s dream didn’t end with a playground. Phase Two of Willow Park includes a picnic shelter for 120 people with a BBQ rental area, canteen, water station, and two family-sized washrooms. Several picnic tables and benches will also be on site. The goal is to have this phase of the project installed in the summer of 2025.
With heavy reliance on local businesses and a single $50,000 government grant for phase one of the project, the duo “hopes to focus more on the grant process to fundraise for Phase Two,” said Graydon. “Having proceeds from smile cookies this spring will help when applying for [those] grants.”
“Smile cookies give the community opportunity to make a double donation,” explained Graydon of the current promotional options the project is showcasing via their Facebook page, purchasing a dozen cookies and gifting them to a local school or community organization gives to the community while building Willow Park’s picnic shelter. “The double donation allows grandparents to send cookies to their grandchildren, or families to gift cookies to their parent’s care home.”
At Saturday’s Spring Fling market, all cookies pre-ordered by 3 p.m. were doubled by an anonymous donor and will be gifted to the Morris Food Bank.
“The Food Bank is always very appreciative of food donations,” said Graydon.
Starting Monday, Rempel Insurance Brokers were saying thank you to the transportation and agricultural industries by providing two free cookies to all truckers stopping at the Morris Tim Hortons and two dozen cookies that will be hand delivered by Rempel’s partners to local farmers. There are also limited quantities at Rempel Insurance for pick-up.
Over 7,000 cookies had been pre-ordered at the start of the week. Each cookie is decorated with the trademark blue eyes and pink smile by volunteers organized by the receiving ies at the Multiplex kitchen from Sunday to Saturday evening,” explained Lamotte. “The Morris School student council and flag football team, as well as several individuals are helping.”
Many smiles are guaranteed through this campaign, with orders accepted all week using forms found on the Willow Park Project or Rempel Insurance Facebook pages.
