Bay Street Coffee funding cardiac care with heart cookies

Bay Village Coffee is kicking off their annual heart cookie fundraiser for local cardiac care on Monday.

The cookies are available throughout February, and all proceeds go to the cardiac sector of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation.

Owner Alan Forbes says the goal is to top last year’s total of 10,000 cookies sold.

“A friend of ours passed away in 2018 from a heart attack, and the only symptom she had was a sore neck,” Forbes said. “When we found out that was a symptom that’s more common in women, I thought that we should just do a little bit of an education campaign, maybe raise a few bucks.”

The heart cookie fundraiser has raised over $100,000 in the last five years.

“Then in 2023, just after giving the check presentation, I had a heart attack myself,” Forbes said. “They ended up using equipment on me that had been purchased through the foundation so it was really full circle.”

Forbes has since recovered. He says he’s feeling re-energized and ready to break some records this year.