Local mentors and their big sisters and big brothers have plenty of reasons to smile.
Bradford Tim Hortons owner Perry Thornton and staff presented representatives of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peel York with $21,755.43 at the restaurant at 440 Holland St. W., in Bradford, earlier today. The funds were raised across the four Bradford restaurant locations during the Smile Cookie Campaign from May 1-7.
The local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization has provided children and youth ages six to 17 with mentoring relationships for more than 50 years, and expects the funding will help them expand to offer more services to a greater number of local youths.
“Our community-based and our school-based mentors will definitely benefit from the funding,” said Panveer Lachhar, director of development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peel York. “We have a shortage of mentors so that’s a priority for us. We have a lot of youth on waiting lists, so this funding will help us to secure some mentorship for our youth in Bradford.”
Lachhar estimates there are hundreds of kids on waiting lists across the GTA including an estimated 20-30 in Bradford.
While Lachhar partly attributes the mentor shortage to the post-pandemic transition from virtual to in-person activities, he also acknowledges Bradford is booming.
“Bradford is growing and so is the need for the community, and that’s why I think it’s really important that we promote mentorship around the area,” he said.
Thornton was happy to help.
“It’s such a great organization and I have staff members that have nieces and such that have been through the program and always talk highly of the program. It was a great fit for us,” he said.
Thornton said the more than $21,000 raised exceeded previous local Smile Cookie Campaigns, which usually raised between $10,000 and $15,000, but was quick to point out that Tim Hortons raised the price of the cookies this year.
The Bradford locations also sold more cookies than usual though, with an estimated 14,000 sold this time, compared to about 12,000 sold in previous campaigns.
That’s a lot of smiles.
“I give the staff a lot of credit for figuring things out and keeping the speed of service going,” Thornton said. “We had managers in the back putting Smile Cookie faces on, and it gets pretty labour intensive.”
Thornton even jumped in to help out.
“I made probably about 20, and they said, ‘You know what, just leave it alone. You’re too slow,’” he quipped.
Still, he said he’s happy with how everything turned out.
“The neighbourhood support and everything from the town was fantastic and we’re looking forward to another one next year,” Thornton said.
Anyone looking to become a mentor or for more information about Big Brothers Big Sisters Peel York can visit visit their website.
