BARBERTON, Ohio — You'd be hard-pressed to find a better way to beat the heat than with some nice cold ice cream. At Skoops Ice Cream in Barberton, its ice cream sales this weekend will do more than just keep people cool.
Through July 25, Skoops is celebrating Christmas in July, with lights, decorations and holiday music. But the festivities go beyond the Christmas theme, a portion of the proceeds from Christmas in July sales will be donated to a good cause.
"We’re donating 10% of our total sales to the National MS Society," said owner Terry Helbling. "We essentially lost a very good friend of ours in January to MS along with some other complications."
Tom Collins, the friend of Terry and Dave Helbling, was diagnosed with MS at the age of 29. His legacy now lives on through the efforts of Skoops Ice Cream as they look to help support the National MS Society.
The Helblings are no strangers to giving back, making this kind of community support their mission.
"I made a promise before we opened that if this worked out we will always give back," Terry said.
Customer Tina Long knows how important organizations like the National MS Society are because she herself was diagnosed with the disease and has utilized the organization.
“I couldn’t see, I had double vision. It was in 1999. And I found out on 9/9/99 over the phone," Long said of her diagnosis. “I got into the MS Society because I reached out for help. I wanted knowledge about the disease and they gave me lots of knowledge.
The event at Skoops began Friday, and after hearing about the cause, Long decided to show her support in full.
“Well, I was overjoyed. I was glad because I come here, my friend Michela she comes here all the time, she promotes this place, and every time I come here I get good ice cream," Long said. “I was just excited about it. I called all my friends, they’ve shown up and they’ve left because of the rain, but it’s all about showing up sometimes."
A burst of rain put a damper on the crowd at Skoops Saturday afternoon, but that didn't hinder the spirit of giving back.
“A little weather here and there doesn’t impact us too much. It’s the fact that they want to come out here and do the Christmas in July and give back and do amazing things. It was a little setback for an hour or so but no harm no foul," Helbling said.
The fundraising effort is something that the National MS Society appreciates and says truly impacts how they are able to operate.
“When small businesses and the community come together, that’s really the heart and soul of what we do—what we need for the community to help us just really support those who live with MS," said Julie Leggett, president, Ohio, National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Like many organizations, the National MS Society has seen a decline in some areas of donations with a range of reasons behind it, from the COVID-19 pandemic to inflation.
Long, who brought a group of her friends from her MS support group with her for ice cream at Skoops Saturday said that she's seen the effects of lowered donations and what fewer funds do for the programming she uses.
“When I first started, the MS Society used to have family events and a corn roast every fall and they’d play bingo and there’d be a lot of us together, but that has all changed," Long said. "I know everywhere the donations are down."
The MS Society said that events like those Long wants to see return could increase with more community support.
"There’s no donation too small, there’s no donation too large, every dollar makes a difference and providing those programs and resources locally in our community is first and foremost, how we help those with MS live their best lives," Leggett said. "Twenty-five-thousand people live with MS in the state of Ohio that we know of with a large concentration of them being in Northeast Ohio, so when the community comes together that support for those living with MS and helping us to move our mission forward is really, really important for finding a cure."
And that is something Terry and Dave Helbling hope their weekend of festivities can help to do as well.
"That they see other people and have other people reach out to them on how they can donate and help, and realizing that a lot of people you might not know immediately but people outside of your immediate family—somebody is affected with MS," Terry said. "I think it will draw a lot of attention a lot of awareness to how to donate, how to do fundraisers as much as they can—and this will not be our last one."
Christmas in July runs through Monday at Skoops Ice Cream, 438 5th St., Barberton, and is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
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