Children In Need And A Look Forward Into 2016 With Austin’s Ices

Happy New Year from all of us here at Austin’s Ices! We hope that your 2016 has gotten off to a fantastic start. January is always an exciting time for us. One of our favourite things to do is reflect on our previous successes, with a view to making things even bigger and better going forward.

Over the years, Austin’s Ices has reached some huge milestones and celebrated a handful of amazing accomplishments. But, looking back, nothing fills us with quite as much pride as our fundraising efforts.

We first got involved with charitable fundraising back in 2012, when we visited a special needs school in Salford and handed out some free ice-creams. Over the course of an afternoon, we provided cool refreshment to dozens of smiling faces, and donated the proceeds to Children in Need. It was a massive success, not to mention a hugely rewarding experience. Word spread quickly, and the following year we were able to team up with our friends at Daniel’s Ices. Sharing the workload meant there was even more Mr Whippy to go around, and we ultimately visited three schools and gave away more than 800 ice-creams.

We quickly realised that our small-scale fundraising efforts had the potential to grow into something much greater, and by the time 2014 came around we were determined to take things to the next level. We paetnered with vendors accross the UK, who came from as far afield as Fleetwood, Reading and Liverpool to join our mission. Putting together a convoy of 10 ice-cream vans, we travelled all over Greater Manchester. In total, we visited 8 schools and raised £1,200 for Children in Need. The day created quite a bit of buzz, and was even featured by the Manchester Evening News.

Then came November of the past year. Children in Need was just around the corner once again, and we decided to be more ambitious than ever before! Expanding the concept to a nationwide level, we helped ice-cream vendors throughout the UK set up similar initiatives in their local community. Mobilers from Scotland, Newcastle, Bournmouth and other areas all did their part, dishing out sweet treats for thousands of lucky school pupils. Through our combined efforts, we managed to raise a whopping £4,000!

We are honoured that our little brainchild has become such a huge success, and we’re incredibly thankful for everyone who has helped us get to this point. Nevertheless, we’re far from content with what we’ve achieved up til now. We know that there’s still plenty of room to develop, and we have some great ideas moving in to 2016. Watch this space!