All it takes is a cookie and a smile, and Tim Hortons has both covered.

The Smile Cookie Campaign is underway at several Tim Hortons locations across Chautauqua County. All week long, cookies are on sale for $2 at participating Tim Hortons locations in Dunkirk, Fredonia, Westfield, and Cassadaga. For every cookie sold, 100% of the money raised will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County.

Donating the proceeds from the Smile Cookie Campaign has become an annual tradition for Tim Hortons franchise owners Dave and Gina Kron.

“Gina and Dave go above and beyond to be supportive to our community and have really made a commitment to helping our youth,” said Jeannie Gallaway, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County. She called the Club’s collaboration with Dave and Gina Kron an “incredible partnership.”

Jeannie Gallaway, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County, smiles after receiving a check for the proceeds from Smile Cookie sales.

Gina and Dave Kron shifted the focus of the Smile Cookie Campaign to a local entity two years ago when they first selected the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County is the beneficiary. Smile Cookie sales skyrocketed from between $1,500-$2,000 each year to more than $9,000 in each of the past two years.

“It’s a testament to show how much people are really supporting the Boys and Girls Club and what they do in the community,” Gina Kron said. “It’s really important to have a place for these kids to go. … The community really rallied behind it.”

Dave and Gina Kron have also supported the Club in other ways in recent years, including the donation of baskets as raffle prizes and a donut decorating station each year at the annual holiday party at the Club. Each year, to kick off the Smile Cookie Campaign, children of the Club visit Tim Hortons to decorate their own Smile Cookies.

As was the case last year, the majority of the funds raised will be used to cover the Boys and Girls Club’s summer programming costs, including transportation for field trips, healthy snacks, and other materials.

“We are so happy with the support we receive every day from our community. For us to be able to give back to our community, really is what we stand for. It makes us so happy to be able to do that,” Gina Kron said.