Playfair Day Care thrilled with Smile Cookie sales
May 13, 2024, 10:37 am
Ashley Bochek
Thanks to strong community support, Smile Cookie sales in Moosomin were the highest in Saskatchewan for the second year in a row.
$45,000 worth of Smile Cookies were sold in Moosomin, $10,000 more than last year, more than any other community in Saskatchewan this year, and sixth in all of Canada.
All proceeds from the Smile Cookie sales in Moosomin will go towards funding the new Play Fair Daycare facility.
Jill Jones a Play Fair Daycare board member, says the board is happy to see the support from the community for the Smile Cookie fundraiser.
Jones says the money raised will make a huge impact on the new daycare project.
“It is going to make a huge difference. It’s taken the whole community to come together to raise this money, and all of it just adds up. It is going to make a huge difference.”
Jill says the daycare board is ecstatic and surprised by the total amount raised from the smile cookie sales. They can’t believe the community’s support in helping support the new day care.
“Without the town’s support this daycare is not going to happen. As soon as you get the whole community behind it, and support from surrounding communities that will benefit from having this additional day care, it will happen.”
Smile Cookie sales exceed expectations
“I am very surprised by the total raised from the Smile Cookie donations. I kind of had the number in my head from last year and thought if we could do that, that would be great, and to see that the total has exceeded last year’s by $10,000, it is amazing.”
Jones says seeing the level of community support is invigorating for the board.
“It makes us really proud,” she said. “The mission we are on right now, this gives it purpose and reinvigorates us to make sure we get this project executed, and executed as quickly as we can. So, having the community’s support is amazing. It is great!”
Moosomin Tim Hortons reached out to the daycare a while ago regarding the Smile Cookie sales supporting the current day care.
“Tim’s approached us a while ago. They approached us before we even knew that we would have the opportunity to build a new building in the community. We kind of had our set sights on a different project that we still be able to get done. We wanted to reinvigorate the backyard at the current day care so we kind of thought we would be able to put that money towards it. Then, with the project of a whole new building coming on I think it just became more valuable that they approached us and gave us the opportunity to participate with them. Also, we have had applications submitted to the provincial government for years to grant us some extra spaces.”
Willing to help
“The community engagement that we saw, everyone was posting on Facebook, all the small community businesses stepped up huge, and even I had the opportunity to decorate some smile cookies, and I saw that we didn’t even have to rely on a whole bunch of day care employees and board members.
“We had people from the community reaching out and wanting to participate and decorate cookies.
“That was huge, it was really awesome to see the community come together and support us in that way.
“Also, seeing how Moosomin ended up in sales nationwide is incredible. How does a community our size even come close to being in the top 10 of Tim Horton’s businesses in the country? To be first in Saskatchewan and sixth in the country is huge.”
She says corporate sponsors were very willing to help support the Smile Cookie fundraiser and the future of the new day care.
“It was so easy talking to corporate sponsors because they just wanted to help. We even had some knocking on our door after we had filled our quota of the sponsors that we could have. We still had people knocking on our door wanting to be sponsors.”
Next Steps
“The next steps are reviewing architectural design firm proposals,” said Jones. “Once we have decided on the design for the new day care, I think it will give us a better idea of what a final budget could look like. Then, we will work through some geotechnical surveys and topographic surveys and then hoping to start earthworks, getting the land leveled and the site prepared come the fall. We have received some generous grants from the provincial government so far. In there, there is some small writing saying they want this day care up and operational the additional 90 new spots for Moosomin by the end of 2026. So, that is our goal.”
She said the new daycare is a huge project. “It is a massive project. It’s exciting to me and has so much purpose. This will be very beneficial to the community. There are 37 children that would start tomorrow if we could offer them spaces. It’s huge to get these 90 spaces and to be able to accommodate those families. People are excited to know that it’s coming. There are people that I run into on the street saying ‘can you get that done tomorrow?’ ”
Community support
Jones said the local media helped get the community behind the Smile Cookie campaign. “Without your guys help at the Spectator, helping us publicize and getting those posters out and put together, and getting everybody behind it, it wouldn’t have been the success it was. We really appreciate it so thank you from the day care directly to the Spectator.”
Jones says she will feel amazing once it the new day care is open to the public and children can attend.
“I think all throughout the process, every little step, I feel I have pride in that we are doing something positive for the community. To see that final build up and children start going there it is going to be awesome. It is going to be so great.”
She said “I think I would be really ignorant to say it is going to be smooth sailing from here until it is built. I think one of the biggest hurdles is fundraising.
The price of construction has skyrocketed astronomically over the last few years, so I think once we get that final budget together and really figuring out how that funding structure will look and how we will get all the dollars to make the project happen will be our first biggest hurdle. After that we’ve got some really great members on the committee who have built buildings, worked with contractors of this scale, so we will be relying on their expertise.”
More fundraisers
The Smile Cookie campaign served as the kickoff for fundraising for the new daycare and Moosomin town council will donate proceeds of their barbecue July 12 to the day care.
“This project means so much to the community,” said Jones. “It’s good to see the Town Council is showing their support, Co-op has also approached us about some fundraising opportunities. People are proactively reaching out to us to help us fund the money. I think that speaks volumes of the commitment from the town and everyone’s desire to make this project happen successfully.”
