SWEET BOOST FOR DARE

Tim Hortons Partners With Timmins Police Service and Ontario
Provincial Police

A local Tim Hortons contributed a large sum of money to help combat
drug use amongst teens.

For 11 years, Tim Hortons has been supporting local DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) programs throughout Northeastern Ontario and to
dat has help raise nearly $100,000 for the program.

"It's absolutely amazing," said Paul Harrison, who is the Ontario
Provincial Police's Northeast Region DARE co-ordinator. "It helps to
raise awareness not only about the problems with drug abuse, but how
the community can help with it."

A cheque for $16,177 was presented to representatives from the South
Porcupine OPP and the Timmins Police Service.

"These store owners in our area pull out all the stops and do a great
job," said Harrison. "It's a heck of deal. The cookies are awesome and
it raises money for a good cause, so it's a win win situation for
everybody involved."

All of the money goes back into DARE, which helps to cover the cost
associated with materials and training.

"It's a big program," said Harrison. "There's about 3,000 students a
year that get this DARE training. That's about $15 per student, so
this goes a long way in covering some of the costs of the program."

The money raised gets shared between the OPP and TPS who work together
to get the word out about drug use.

"We share the revenue with the Timmins Police Service," said Harrison.
"They have a thriving program with about 700 students involved. These
funds really help with delivering the program."

Every Tim Hortons in the Timmins area supported the cause by raising
funds.

"This is a huge community commitment to our youth by Tim Hortons,"
said Harrison. "They continue to be outstanding corporate citizens."

The fundraiser works through the sale of cookies and 100% of the funds
generated through the sale of the cookies is donated to the DARE
program. The campaign runs once a year for a full week.

"It's fantastic to be able to help out with DARE," said Rob Knox, Tim
Hortons store owner. "I was a police officer for 20 years so I
understand the wonderful benefit of the DARE program. It's great to
contribute to a wonderful program that I know for a fact is a
wonderful program."