Nothing like ice cream to brighten up the community on an otherwise overcast day. American Dairy Association Indiana, Inc was able to accomplish that Friday at Victory Field in Indianapolis during their annual Ice Cream Social, a drive-thru event for the second year.
“July is ice cream months, so why not invite the community and really celebrate agriculture and all the dairy foods, and ice cream is a really big part of Indiana,”
says ADAI CEO Jenni Browning.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and ADAI CEO Jenni Browning
The event is always a fundraiser helping support the work of organizations like this year’s YMCA of Greater Indianapolis.
“We always look for an organization that really aligns with our values and our goals, and the YMCA is all about community and family and also youth wellness, which is very important to us.”
Proceeds benefit Y Programs
Jim Wood, Senior Vice President at the YMCA says the money raised will go to people who can’t afford Y programs.
“All the money that is raised through the ice cream social will go to help those who couldn’t otherwise afford Y programs,” he explained. “So, the money we collect will make things available to all people, and those are programs like LiveSTRONG for cancer survivors.
We have Project Connect which is a program that certifies nursing assistants and childcare workers. It’s a brand new program for us.
Y Achievers, which prepares kids for college, and all our fitness and health-related programming we want to make available to everyone in the community.” Other programs include youth sports, camp, aquatics, swim lessons, water safety and much more.
Helping the community is a constant
As Browning explains, because of the pandemic effect during planning, this year the social is a little bit different. “Usually, we’re on the Circle but this is a drive-thru at Victory Field so it’s ice cream novelties. That way they can just grab their ice cream and eat it on the go or have a picnic.”
"We work for 750 Indiana dairy farmers and the more that we can connect people and show them and connect them with a dairy farmer, the more that they can learn about where our food comes from.”
This year $6,000 was raised for the YMCA to support the community to make health and wellness programs accessible to more Hoosiers.
