‘Heartwarming’ impact
Smile Cookie sales raise over $10K for Boys & Girls Club
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Tim Hortons franchise owners Dave Kron, left, and Gina Kron, middle, are pictured with Kait Dawson, Boys & Girls Club Executive Director, right. The annual Smile Cookie Campaign at local Tim Hortons restaurants raised over $10,000 this year for the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County.
Pictured are children of the Boys & Girls Club with Tim Hortons franchise owners Dave and Gina Kron with Tim Hortons employees, along with Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Kait Dawson, Program Director Kristin Briggs, Camp Coordinator Merrick Samuelson, and Club Office Manager Heather Young.
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Tim Hortons franchise owners Dave Kron, left, and Gina Kron, middle, are pictured with Kait Dawson, Boys & Girls Club Executive Director, right. The annual Smile Cookie Campaign at local Tim Hortons restaurants raised over $10,000 this year for the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County.
Pictured are children of the Boys & Girls Club with Tim Hortons franchise owners Dave and Gina Kron with Tim Hortons employees, along with Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Kait Dawson, Program Director Kristin Briggs, Camp Coordinator Merrick Samuelson, and Club Office Manager Heather Young.
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When Gina and Dave Kron made the decision to dedicate the proceeds from Tim Hortons' annual Smile Cookie Campaign to the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County, they never would have imagined the kind of support they would receive from the community.
This year – the fourth annual campaign to benefit the Club – set a new record in sales. More than $10,000 was raised in one week of Smile Cookie sales earlier this year. The six locations owned and operated by Dave and Gina Kron – in the city of Dunkirk, the town of Dunkirk, Fredonia, Cassadaga, Westfield and Mayville – raised $10,072.43 for the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County.
"It's heartwarming," said Gina Kron. "We love supporting the Boys & Girls Club, and our guests really jump on board. We understand that the kids of this community are worth it, and they need all the support they can get. The Boys & Girls Club has been such a great asset for the kids here in our local community."
Kait Dawson, Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County, said the support of Dave and Gina Kron "means everything" to the Club. She called the Smile Cookie proceeds "a significant amount of money" for the Club, which allows the Club a lot of freedom in how it looks to support its children throughout the year.
"This supports our enrollment numbers, it supports healthy snacks, educational materials ... pretty much everything," Dawson said. "It's nice to have these partners that are willing to put us out there and say they are collecting for our cause."
No fundraising campaign in the region is simpler to support than the Smile Cookie campaign at Tim Hortons throughout Chautauqua County. For one week each spring, custom cookies decorated with a smile are sold at Tim Hortons for $2, with all proceeds supporting local causes. Back in 2023, Gina and Dave Kron formed a partnership with then-Executive Director Jeannie Gallaway to benefit the Boys & Girls Club located in Dunkirk.
The community responded like never before, immediately boosting Smile Cookie sales dramatically. Sales increased from $1,500-$2,000 each year for other causes to roughly $8,500-$9,000 in each of the past three years to support the Club. This year, sales surpassed the $10,000 mark for the first time.
"We really didn't know what to expect. We thought maybe it would be a little bit bigger because it was local, but we had no idea it was going to grow to the extent that it did," Gina Kron said. "To hit $10,000 just selling cookies to the community has just been totally amazing. We are so thankful for our community members and the support that they have given us, and the support that they have given the Boys & Girls Club. It's just amazing. We were blown away."
This year, after the increased demand in recent years, Tim Hortons took pre-orders of Smile Cookies to make sure that guests could order as many as they wanted at a time. That option, at all six locations, helped set a new high mark in sales this year.
"I think that it's important that the money came from our community. It came from right here," Dawson said. "It was an ability for everyday people to contribute in that fashion. It's not just one donation, it's money from everywhere."
In years past, the Smile Cookie funds have benefited the Boys & Girls Club's summer program. This year, thanks to the success of various fundraisers at the Club and donations throughout the community, as well as LEAPS grant funds from the State of New York, the Boys & Girls Club can utilize a substantial portion of the Smile Cookie revenue to jumpstart the Club's future home on Main Street in Dunkirk. The Club hopes to be ready to relocate from its current space at St. Hyacinths School on Lake Shore Drive to its permanent home, the Boys & Girls Clubhouse, located at 312-350 E. Main Street in Dunkirk, by 2027.
Dawson also hopes to use some of the Smile Cookie revenue to support new areas of focus at the Club, such as home economics, nutrition education, and literacy. Dawson hopes to put together a comprehensive library and literacy program at the Club. Not only in a tangible sense, Dawson also wants to provide access to technology in safe settings for a digital library for children to access.
"It would be absolutely fantastic for kids to take those books home with them. Literacy is a huge deficit in our community now, and it's something I've really been working on," Dawson said. "I'm hoping that we make some advancements with that as we approach the school year."
For more information about the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County, contact Kait Dawson, Executive Director, at kaitd.bgc@gmail.com or call (716) 366-1061.