Local & Community
Baskin Robbins Store Owner Donates Ice Cream After Car Crash Destroys Business
After a car crashed into a Baskin Robbins in La Quinta, the store owner is turning a bad situation into an act of charity.
It’s not something you plan for and when a car came crashing through the Baskin Robbins in La Quinta, store owner Cari Freeman was at a loss for words.
"We’re pretty sure it hit here first and then sort of hit the two dipping cabinets there and kind of pushed everything back," said Freeman.
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The driver walked away from the crash but his car pinned a store clerk to a counter she was working on.
"She was taken to the hospital and she just has some minor cuts and bruises, and a little sore today but she’ll be ok," Freeman said.
After shutting off the electricity to her store, Freeman realized the clock was ticking on the ice cream. Instead of tossing what was left of the 31 flavors, she decided to donate it to local non-profits. Turning melting ice cream into melting hearts.
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"It was really nice at the end of the evening to after looking at all the destruction to be able to look at a truck load of Baskin Robbins boxes that were going to the less fortunate. So it was a good way to end a bad day," said Freeman.
The ice cream was donated to a local Boys and Girls Club and the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, but the bulk of it went to the Galilee Center in Mecca. In two days hundreds of people from low income families will be able to have all the ice cream they can eat.
"No one, I think on this side of the valley has that kind of ice cream for the people. It’s something very special for them and I think it’s going to be there first time eating some kind of ice cream like that," said Galilee Center Founder and CEO Gloria Gomez.
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The Baskin Robbins in La Quinta will be closed for the next four to six weeks as Freeman works to re-build her store. People on social media have already begun saying they planning on taking the good deed and paying it forward. Many are saying they will be at the La Quinta Baskin Robbins on opening day. Proving once again there is no limiting the power of ice cream.
By: News Staff
January 23, 2018
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