Whitehorse Tim Hortons made a cheque presentation to Special Olympics Yukon (SOY) on Friday morning. The cheque represented the amount raised during the 2020 Smile Cookie Campaign – the campaign was in its 24th year.

A Smile Cookie costs one dollar with all proceeds going to Special Olympics Yukon. This is a Canada-wide campaign, from Sept. 14-20, and Tim Hortons across the country would donate the money raised to a charity or organization of their choosing.

In 2020, the Smile Cookie Campaign raised $9,547 for Special Olympics Yukon, shattering the mark set in 2019, then a record, of $7,568.

After the cheque presentation in 2019, Doug Terry, owner of Tim Hortons Whitehorse said “I don’t know if we can sell any more cookies. Seven thousand, 500 hundred we are going full out but maybe wee will set the target for 8,000 next year, which seems like a reasonable number.

Well, they shattered that goal.

“It exceeded our expectations but once again the city of Whitehorse really rallied behind Special Olympics Yukon,” said Terry. “It was heartwarming to see especially during these times.

“You know, 9,547 is a lot of cookies so a big call out to our bakers who were working pretty much 24/7 making that many cookies.”

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Larissa Winslade, SOY office and events coordinator. “Last year was great but this year was even better, we couldn’t believe it. Especially during these times, it was unbelievable.”

Terry said Whitehorse has always been a generous community – even during the difficult times of COVID-19.

“I think there is a general sense of perhaps charity across Whitehorse, I mean it is a very generous town to begin with,” said Terry. “Special Olympics Yukon is one of the best-run organizations and the athletes, everybody knows them by name.”

The money, Winslade said, will be used for SOY programming.

“It’s going to be going toward sport programs, that will help us out a lot with that in the future with what we can do,” said Winslade. “Obviously due to COVID, (it will) help us get up and running again.”

Both Terry and Winslade said for next year, they are hoping to see yet another jump.

“Well, we are awfully close to 10 grand so I’d like to really hit it,” said Terry.

“That would be incredible,” said Winslade. “That’s definitely the goal.”

In years prior, Special Olympics athletes would help the staff at Tim Hortons make the Smile Cookies, but because of COVID, they were unable to this year.

Terry said he is looking forward to having the athletes back in the near future.

Nationally, the campaign supports 550 local charities, hospitals, and community programs. In 2019, $9.8 million was raised country-wide.