While many businesses across the Capital Region are impacted by closures due to coronavirus, ice cream shops' profits are melting. In Saratoga Springs, the community and the owner of the Ben & Jerry's franchise in the city are hoping to work together to sprinkle a little extra love right now.
Patrick Pipino, one of the owners, says he got the early spring he was hoping for, but unfortunately was forced to close up shop and temporarily lay off his full-time staff about two weeks ago. He says the store also usually attracts the same returning students each year for work, and that is uncertain right now, too.
In the meantime, "we have ice cream sitting in our freezers with nothing to do with it, except sit there, so we're hoping to get rid of it," Pipino said.
And Pipino's long-time friend Luanne Rasmussen has an idea to do just that.
"Whenever there is a need, he is usually the first one to step up and try to help," Rasmussen said of Pipino.
Rasmussen is hoping to scoop up some community support. She's created a GoFundMe to buy Pipino's ice cream and donate it to two senior living facilities: Wesley Health Care and Home of the Good Shepherd, both in Saratoga Springs.
"I thought of all of the seniors who are isolated from their family and friends during this scary time, and it might be nice to share some treats with them and the wonderful staff that's helping them through this," Rasmussen said. "We just wanted to help out Patrick and give back to the community."
Pipino was gearing up for Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, and he usually donates ice cream to the St. Baldrick's head shaving event at Westmere Fire each year, but both are postponed, so right now he's got about one ton of ice cream just sitting in the shop. He says would love to be able to put some smiles on faces.
"I know it's a tough time for a lot of people, but if everyone can just give a little, we can take care of both facilities," Rasmussen said.
"It's just another example of another Capital District person that's trying to do good by the community, and we are blessed to be living in this region, where so many people are trying to do what they can at a tough time," Pipino said.
And that's not all: Pipino says he will do whatever he can to help, and he hasn't even told Rasmussen yet.
"Even though money is extremely tight right now, we have always tried to be good partners to different civic organizations, so we'll either try to match it to a certain degree. So if the donations came in huge, we'd only be able to match it to a certain degree, but at the very least, we'll do it at cost," Pipino said.
Rasmussen says she was also hoping to donate to the hospital, but they didn't have the freezer capacity for the ice cream.