Sean Sargent and his A-Team celebrated their 13th smile cookie delivery campaign to spread joy across Grande Prairie at local schools.
Tim Hortons smile cookies have been a long-standing Canadian tradition and Sargent and his team say the event marks one of the most important times of the year. The local Toyota dealer says the event kicks off the feeling of charity among students and school faculty while supporting the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital foundation.
“[We] started just buying cookies for the schools that my wife and I used to go to in Grande Prairie, Swanavon, Hillside, the comp, and after doing that for two or three years, we decided let’s buy cookies for all the schools,” he says. “Back then I think it was only 18,000 cookies we bought, now there’s a lot more schools so we’re buying 22,000 cookies and we’re delivering them to all the schools over the next couple of days and that’s kinda the kick-off for the campaign.”
With 100 per cent of the proceeds going toward the GPRHF, Sargent says despite all the hard work, he can’t help but smile when he sees the look on everyone’s faces when they receive their cookie.
“You feel good buying the cookie, you feel good eating the cookie, you feel good giving it away,” he says. “All the kids and administration and staff at schools, they love getting them so it makes us feel great to deliver them too.”
After 13 years, and nearly a quarter million dollars raised, the question of why a local car dealer turned philanthropist keeps going is a fair one; however, Sargent maintains that the tradition is a staple for both him and the students who receive a smile cookie every year.
“As soon as we go to the first school and you see the kids’ eyes light up, and I’ve been doing this for so long now, I mean there’s kids that have been getting these cookies for literally their entire life in school so they really appreciate it and that really warms my heart to see them appreciate it.”
Sargent says he hopes that his continuation of the annual campaign will inspire Grande Prairie youth to recognize the importance of giving back to their community when they grow up.
“Hopefully they will learn when the teacher explains to them about philanthropy and donating and giving back to your community, we’ll get some youngsters growing up to be philanthropists in the future.”
Smile cookies will be up for sale from April 29th to May 5th across Canada in support of local charities.
