Dairy Queen again raises huge amount for children’s hospital
The term miracle is often used in advertisements and promotions, but seldom does it seem appropriate. The community of Gray and Jones County, however, pulled off an event last week that fits the term.
A miracle is defined as an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
Jones County, including the City of Gray, has an estimated population of 28,400 citizens. Dairy Queen of Gray raised over $81,000 on Miracle Treat Day July 28. DQ owner and manager Justin Kelly said every dime of the funds received will go to the Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital.
Perhaps more amazing is the fact that $80,400 was raised on Miracle Treat Day in 2021.
A euphoric Kelly said businesses were the driver for large donations last year, but this year was more about the people.
“We were so much busier this year,” he said. “We had more than $25,000 in sales for the day.”
He said those sales made the matching donations even larger. The day’s sales from the 2022 Miracle Treat Day event was $8,000 more than the day of the 2021 event, which is a lot of hamburgers and ice cream.
Kelly said cars in the drive-thru lined up a quarter mile down Gray Highway, and those inside the building wrapped around two, sometimes three times for walk-up service.
“People waited patiently inside and out,” he said.
The owner said the wait was sometimes 45 minutes to an hour, but no one seemed in a hurry.
“We didn’t receive one complaint, and there were no returns. They were here for a cause. You could tell that from the atmosphere,” he said.
Kelly said that was despite a computer crash and an ice cream machine that went down.
The owner said not one person in the DQ building drew a dime for the work they performed July 28. He said the employees’ donation of their salaries added up to $4,000 for the children’s hospital.
Kelly said the media helped get the word out. He said Laura Starling with WDEN had been promoting the Jones County event for two weeks on her show, which she actually broadcasted July 28 from DQ at 2 p.m.
He said they were surprised when 13 WMAZ did broadcasts onsite at noon, 5 p.m., 5:30 and 6 p.m.
In a June interview previewing the Miracle Treat Day event, Kelly seemed to be attempting to manage expectations. The goal in 2021 was $50,000, but he gave no goal for this year.
Kelly said they wanted to get past last year’s number, and it happened because the community showed up.
“Thank you so much to every single person who spent money and donated money at DQ of Gray and to all the sponsors who made the hourly matches possible. Make sure to always do business with businesses that take care of #OURTOWN!”
Special thank you to:
T.J Heath • Jimmy Goolsby
Scotty’s Muffler • Brick Nelson
Crossway Storage • Amber Ayers
Mike Adams Towing • H&H Body Shop
One Stop Auto Sales • JB&L Auto Sales
Marler’s Plumbing • Wayne Hoffman
AA Action Fence • Sonrise Ministries
Piedmont Insurance • DQ employees
Jones County Sheriff’s Office
FM 99.1 WDEN • Laura Starling
