Courage Cookies recruits Fort Erie businesses for Christmas food drive

Courage Cookies owner Chelsea Hearty is asking Fort Erie businesses to charge $1 more for their most popular item for six weeks to help buy Christmas groceries for 1,000 local people who struggle to afford food.

Hearty, who sits on the Ridgeway Business Improvement Area (BIA), told Fort Erie Radio it was “disappointing” that no business answered when the BIA emailed her letter to all its members about two weeks ago.

At Thanksgiving, Hearty bought groceries for 30 local families, or about 100 people. More requests for help kept arriving by email until she had to stop accepting them.

“I had a lot of people looking for support, and I eventually had to draw the line,” said Hearty.

Groceries for each person cost about $18, enough for a turkey dinner and up to a week and a half of groceries. Feeding 1,000 people at that price would cost about $18,000.

Courage Cookies donates 2.5 per cent of its revenue to its holiday grocery drives, but nearly all of that money comes from cookies sold in Toronto. For Thanksgiving, Hearty kept $500 to $600 aside for Fort Erie families, and an anonymous donor added just over $1,500.

“I don’t have a business here, and look what I’m doing,” said Hearty. “I understand that not everybody has the time, or they have family commitments outside of work hours, so not everyone is able to do it, but I wanted to reach out to all the local businesses to see if anybody wants to get involved.”

She said a $1 increase on a glass of wine or a pizza would not hurt a business. Owners who prefer another approach could put out a jar for loose change or add a donation button at checkout.

About half of the roughly 15 people who picked up their Thanksgiving groceries from Hearty in person cried. Many expected a small bag of food but left with three to five full bags.

“I really don’t think loyal customers would mind spending an extra dollar on an item for the next six weeks, knowing what it’s going to do,” said Hearty.

One woman told Hearty her family had not been able to afford a turkey dinner in about eight years.

Families sign up through a link Hearty posts on community Facebook pages. At Thanksgiving, many of them heard about the drive from the Crystal Ridge Dream Center, which shared her link with the people it works with.

Hearty said she hopes more small businesses will join and one day push larger companies to do the same.

“I sell cookies,” said Hearty. “If I can do this with my business, why aren’t other people doing it as well?”

Businesses that sign on have until about December 20 to collect money and send Hearty their totals. Businesses and residents who want to give can reach her at hello@couragecookies.ca.

Hearty plans to shop for the groceries with volunteers on December 22, then sort them by family size in Ridgeway for delivery or pickup.

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