Almost doubling last year's Smile Cookie campaign, a beaming Erin Brunelle and her many volunteers, presented a cheque for over $20,000 to the Smile Zone Foundation at St. Joseph's General Hospital.
100 percent of the Smile Cookie proceeds went to the Smile Zone and additional sales brought the total even higher than the presentation cheque.
Hospital staff, board members, and CEO Jeremy Stevenson, were on hand to celebrate and receive the donation.
How the Smile Zone Foundation was chosen
The local Tim Horton's owner said, "we chose to do the Smile Zone Foundation because the idea was brought to me a few years back by the 100 Elliot Lakers Who Care campaign." And it was "a mother with a child who suffers from a chronic heart condition ... he's in the hospital quite a bit," that inspired the Rotary Club members to suggest Smile Zone to Brunelle.
Brunelle, a mom with three children of her own, noted that "although our hospital is quite beautiful and we have great staff, unfortunately, there's not a lot of funding to make it more welcoming."
The Smile Zone crew will come in, and in one weekend, they will refresh three different areas of the hospital to make it more welcoming for youth."
The project will also refresh an area where folks waiting to get into long-term care will also enjoy a brighter, refreshed space.
'I'm really proud of our community'
"We had so many volunteers that were eager to help out."
The volunteers made phone calls, emailed messages, decorated cookies and were volunteers staffing the Smile Cookie sales tables around Elliot Lake.
"So, to reach over $20,000 is something that I'm quite proud of."
"And I'm really proud of our community," Brunelle said.
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