UDairy raises funds for ice cream truck

 
Senior Jennifer Rodammer, the UDairy Creamery assistant manager, consumed 3.25 pounds of ice cream in seven minutes as part of an ice cream eating contest at the UDairy Carnival on Friday. The carnival was held to fundraise for the purchase of a campus ice cream truck.

Almost every afternoon and evening, the Russell Dining Hall has a single line that barely wavers in length due to the high demand for UDairy Creamery ice cream. The ice cream is made less than two miles away from the dining hall at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

However, for many students the location of the Creamery is less than convenient. Creamery marketing manager Jenna Byers says the ice cream truck can help satisfy the demand for their ice cream on main campus.

“People have this idea that South Campus is so far away,” Byers says. “There are so many people interested in what we do, but the distance is too far. We wanted to make a better connection between the Creamery and students.”

Byers, who developed the idea for the ice cream truck, says it would raise awareness of both the creamery and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She says she thinks students would like the convenience of buying from a truck as opposed to walking to the storefront.

The Creamery tried to offset some of the ice cream truck costs with a carnival fundraiser held on the North Green, where proceeds benefited the new venture, Rodammer says.

“We don’t have an exact numerical goal but it’s something that we will be fundraising for until we are certain we have enough,” Rodammer says. “Events like this one have the potential to become more regular.”

With the purchase of a $4 ticket, attendees received endless ice cream samples, face painting and balloon animals. Additional 50-cent tickets could be purchased for participation in relay races, ice cream trivia and competitions in both cone-stacking and scooping.

Junior UDairy employee Marisa Del Corso, who worked the pumpkin ice cream sample table, says she thinks the ice cream truck would be good for those who rarely go to South Campus.

“I think students who never go to South Campus feel like it is so far,” Del Corso says. “They are really missing out. There are so many great people who work there and the ice cream is amazing. The Creamery has gotten so popular so quickly. I think a truck is just natural extension.”

The UDairy Creamery, established in 2008, uses milk from the university’s dairy cows, which was originally shipped to Kilby Cream and made into ice cream. In 2009, the Creamery began to work with Hy-Point Dairy, which currently ships the milk to Cumberland, NJ to make the ice cream base. By November of 2010, ground was broken for the Creamery storefront, which officially opened on April 30, 2011 next to the Fred Rust Ice Arena.

The creamery has since expanded its business, and ice cream is currently available at every dining hall, the Main Street Barnes and Noble, the university Marriott Hotel, Rodney Market, Harrington Mart and POD on Laird Campus.

Student services coordinator Krista Urbaniak says she was happy to attend the carnival and help fundraise for the ice cream truck.

“I am here to support the truck,” Urbaniak says. “I love The Green ice cream, the mint with fudge brownies and chocolate swirls. Since I work in the Registrar’s Office, it would be much easier to get ice cream from a truck. I also have kids who would absolutely love it.”

While a date of purchase has yet to be determined, many of the ideas surrounding the truck have already been outlined.

“Since we have about 30 flavors, we would be serving six to eight different flavors per day,” Byers says. “The truck will be driven by the Creamery’s student employees and might have two different routes, one on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and another for Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

One tentative route drawn up by the UDairy Creamery would include four stops: on South College Avenue at Amstel Avenue, East Delaware Avenue, at the Laird Campus footbridge and on Elkton Road at Amstel Avenue.

As for flavor recommendations, Del Corso says she cannot pick just one.

 “I could never choose one, so I have four,” she says. “Delaware River Mud Pie is incredible, Sweet Potato Pie sounds strange but is delicious, Peanut Cocoa-Loco is the perfect chocolate peanut butter combo and the summer flavor Key Lime Pie is amazing. I could eat this ice cream all the time.”