Left to right: Tim Hortons Owners Ed Zaparaniuk and Cheryl Sander, Big Brothers Big Sisters Development Coordinator Natasha Thomson, Tim Hortons Manager Michelle Adona, and Tim Hortons Operator Blaine Zaparaniuk. (paNOW Staff/Nick Nielsen)

By Nick Nielsen

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Over $10,000 raised in Holiday Smile Cookie campaign

Dec 11, 2025 | 4:46 PM

With a total of $10,676 raised, the four Tim Hortons locations around Prince Albert came together Thursday afternoon to present their donation from the December Holiday Smile Cookie campaign towards Big Brothers Big Sisters. It won’t be the only donation the Tim Hortons locations around the city will be making to Big Brothers Big Sisters as they also made the commitment to send donations from the spring Smile Cookie campaign to the same organization.

For Cheryl Sander, owner of the Tim Hortons locations on the east side of the city, being able to support a local charity in a way that brings so many from the community together is an honour.

“There’s only a few of us (local franchisees) left. A lot of the franchises have been bought by other companies, so we’re one of the few local franchisees left, which is really important. My dad started in 1992. That’s pretty amazing to still be in Prince Albert, owning and working every day like he does. So yeah, that’s important to give back to the people you know in our community.”

Accepting the donation for Big Brothers Big Sisters was was Development Coordinator Natasha Thomson. An important reason why Big Brothers Big Sisters were recipients of the donation this year because they were able to supply volunteers to help decorate the cookies.

During the campaign, Thomson said it was great to see so many people coming out to support them.

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“It’s absolutely wonderful the support from Tim Hortons and the community and buying cookies. We are so delighted to have this funding coming in to our organization and it will allow us to help more children and youth in our group programs and our one-on-one mentoring programs.”

The money raised is going to be a big help for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Prince Albert, but they are also in need of volunteers to help with those mentoring programs. They are in need of people to step up and take part in their mentoring programs in the upcoming year.

“We are looking for volunteers to match with children in 2026 in our community, in school programming and in community, and we also have a Christmas holiday fundraiser going on right now on our website, Ignite a Little Sparkle, you can donate and ignite the sparkle in a child’s life until December 31st.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters is currently running their Ignite a Little Spark campaign now. You can make a donation by clicking here.