That's a lot of ice cream... and a lot of support from the people who love it.
During Good Morning Quad Cities on Wednesday, May 22nd, Whitey's Ice Cream Co-Owners - Jon and Jeff Tunberg - joined News 8's Angie Sharp in announcing that they raised $45,000 from sales of their Mississippi Mud Ice Cream. The fundraiser started May 1st and ended May 17th. All the proceeds, not just the profits, went to flood relief efforts throughout the area.
$40,000 of that $45,000 is going to the American Red Cross. The other $5,000 is going to The Salvation Army. Trish Burnett, Executive Director of the American Red Cross Serving Central Illinois, told WQAD News 8 she appreciates everyone who "ate their way" to raise this much money:
"It's going to do great things to help people in need who are really struggling still with the flooding," she said.
Today - May 22nd, 2019 - is day #70 for the Red Cross when it comes to its flood recovery work in the community. Trish said this money will go directly to that fund to pay for cleaning supplies, meals, financial assistance, and more.
Mississippi Mud was actually invented in 1993 as a response to the record-breaking flood that the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities beat on May 2, 2019. At that time, Whitey's gave the first $5,000 in sales to the Red Cross. This time around, Jeff said the power of social media helped spread the word about this fundraiser to more people.
"[Giving back] is something that we've always learned from our folks," said Jon. "We live here. We work here. We make our money here, so we need to always give back to the community."