Home Community Local restaurants support The Georgina Cares Fund

Local restaurants support The Georgina Cares Fund

September 24, 2021

179

By Michelle Poirier

Two local fast-food chains have raised money for The Georgina Cares Fund, Tim Hortons through their Smile Cookie campaign, and McDonald’s through their McHappy Day.

The Smile Cookie campaign ran at local Tim Hortons from September 13 to 19, with 100 per cent of the proceeds from cookie sales going to Georgina Cares.

McHappy Day took place at Keswick McDonald’s on September 22.

Mayor Margaret Quirk and Councillor Mike Waddington were on hand to help raise donations at McDonald’s.

“One hundred per cent of all donations and a portion of all sales from the day go to our local charity, which is Georgina Cares, and the Ronald McDonald House,” Todd Telford, owner of McDonald’s Keswick, said.

“I’ve been here 14 years and we do it every year, it’s an annual event. In 2020, we didn’t host the event because of COVID-19 restrictions. We still made our donations to the charities though, because we feel it’s so important.”

Regional Coun. Rob Grossi, founder and president of The Georgina Cares Fund, was also at McDonald’s for McHappy Day.

“We’re so happy they decided to pick Georgina Cares, because we do a couple of things, we help kids be kids and we also do what’s called a compassionate fund. Where, when a catastrophic event happens to a family, we help out. We can only do that through businesses like McDonald’s and some of our other corporate partners,” he said. .

The Georgina Cares Fund also has their annual Live TV Auction coming up on November 28 on Rogers tv.

They were unable to hold the live auction last year due to COVID-19 safety precautions.

Grossi said many major retailers in Town have donated items for auction, despite having a hard 18 months due to the pandemic.

“We are so fortunate that they come forward all the time to make sure that we can do what’s necessary to help people in the community,” he said.

“The money that we get is from everybody in this town who supports McHappy Day, the Smile Cookie program or the auction, and then we channel it to someone when they are in need,” he said.

Grossi said they have not yet received the proceeds from the Smile Cookie Campaign or McHappy Day, but estimates it could total approximately $20,000 combined.