VICTORIA -- Vancouver Island first responders and community groups are out in force today to help support the Tim Hortons Children’s Foundation.

Aug. 12 is Camp Day for all Tim Hortons locations across Canada. Any coffee or ice coffee purchased Wednesday will go towards sending underprivileged children to a Tim Hortons Foundation Camp.

At the camps, children are taught life skills and leadership skills, alongside typical camp activities.

“They start going in middle school and they go every year until they graduate,” said Kelly Sim, owner of the Tim Hortons on Langford Lake Road.

“It’s a really great program with beautiful camps across the country.”

The Langford Fire Department was at Tim Hortons on Wednesday morning to help support the fundraiser.

Meanwhile, the Saanich Police Department was at a local Tim Hortons while the Nanaimo Fire Department was at a mid-island location at the same time.

“Come by a Tim Hortons today and buy a coffee or an ice coffee or just a cash donation,” said Sim.

“We also do something where you can round up an order,” she said. “Say your order was $4.80. We ask if you’d like to round up your order to the nearest dollar, to $5, and then you can donate the difference of 20 cents or whatever the difference is.”

This afternoon, the Victoria Grizzlies junior A hockey team will be at several Langford Tim Hortons to help raise awareness and donations.

Sim says so far, community support for the fundraiser has “been great.”