Kona Ice Chips in For Good Cause
Manassas resident and business owner helps elderly residents of an independent living facility without power cool down.
Photos
Kona Ice of Virginia operated by Mack Ingram, of Manassas, gave away free snow cones to residents of the Lake Anne Fellowship House in Reston Monday after they had been without power in scorching temperatures since Friday night.
The Fellowship House is an independent living facility for low-income seniors.
Cheri Legune, of Vienna, who volunteered at the Fellowship House, said area resident Beth Burns read an article on Reston Patch Sunday asking the community for help for the nearly 75 elderly residents who remained at the facility. That's when Burns and dozens of other people answered the call for help and delivered food and water to the elderly residents.
"Burns went online and hired Ingram of Kona Ice Virginia to come and give snow cones to the residents," Legune said. "What was amazing is that most of the culturally diverse residents had never had them before."
But what was even more amazing is that once Ingram arrived in his Kona Ice truck and learned of the circumstances, he decided to charge $1 total for all residents (50 people or more) to get a snow cone.
And the residents received even more good news later that day when power was restored just before 5 a.m. Tuesday.
timmy tyrrell
9:53 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Mack that is great what you were doing. Very Very Very cool !!!!! You are a class act.
Timmy Tyrrell
Jamie Izaks
9:12 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
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Beth
5:20 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
And that was $1.00 for everything, not per cone. I was on line looking for regular ice, and Kona Ice was the first place I called. It dawned on me that snow cones could hit the spot, and it took Mack all of about 15 seconds to decide to squeeze Fellowship House into his already busy day.
I asked if he could accept a credit card, since many businesses could not, or if I should bring a check. But didn't want to talk about cost, saying we'd work it out. When I brought it up on site, he said $1.00 - and after I handed him the bill, he tried to give it back several times.
One resident told me she hadn't had a snow cone since she was a little girl. Another said it reminded her of going to the circus. The upbeat music from the truck included Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me." The residents of Fellowship House did have a friend - thank you, Mack!
Arlene
8:46 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Beth and Mack, both of you were such a blessing to all the residents.
Beth
12:45 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Arlene, you're very kind. But other volunteers worked more hours than I did. I wish I remembered the name of the person who was there for about 9 hours and helped clean up after a great cook-out the same day we had the snow cones. And one morning another volunteer stopped at McDonalds and brought in 50 (!) breakfasts. Everyone pitched in with food, water, ice (when available!), homemade bread, coffee (my husband brought Starbucks traverler's boxes), and more. Wonderful community response. And without Patch, I don't know how the word would have gotten out so quickly.