Tim Hortons cookie campaign raises $19.7 million

Who: Tim Hortons

What: The Canadian coffee house and restaurant chain raised $19.7 million through its annual Smile Cookie campaign, supporting more than 600 charities and community groups across the country.

"To achieve such an amazing result means baking and hand-decorating millions upon millions of Smile Cookies over the course of just a week,” said Axel Schwan, president of Tim Hortons for Canada and the United States, in a press release.

“My heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone in the Tim Hortons family who made this happen, all our passionate restaurant owners and team members, and the volunteers helped us dot eyes and create smiles,” added Schwan.

The first Smile Cookie campaign launched in 1996, originally raising funds for Hamilton Children's Hospital. Since then, the company has raised more than $111 million across North America for charities and organizations selected every year by Tim Hortons restaurant owners. 

Recipients include local hospitals, community care organizations, food banks and schools. Last year's campaign raised a record-breaking $15 million.

Taking the top spot selling the most Smile Cookies across Canada this year was Ryan DiTommaso and Ashleigh MacLeod's Tim Hortons in Dunnville, Ont., which has a population of 6,000 people. 

The team hand-decorated and sold nearly 52,000 Smile Cookies or nearly nine cookies for every resident in the town. The proceeds from sales of the cookies in Dunnville are being donated to the Dunnville Hospital and Healthcare Foundation.