Woodhaven's Sweet Treats Station is turning from ice cream to soup to help during the coronavirus outbreak
To better serve Woodaven and medical professionals fighting COVID-19, Sweet Treats Station are putting the scoopers down and picking up the soup ladles instead.
Wendy and Dawn Lancaster know ice cream. It makes people happy. But when the crisis hit, a sweet treat wasn't what was needed the most - a hot meal was more necessary.
"We had gotten together and were like what can we do for the community? This is what we came up with," Dawn said.
Now Sweet Treats Station in Woodhaven is chopping up celery and all the other ingredients to feed families and front line heroes. They're working non-stop during this pandemic to help people who need it most.
"The doctors, the nurses that risk their family and their lives every day for everyone of us," Wendy said.
The business is considered essential since they're a dairy manufacturer so theyr'e still serving ice cream. But they're also churning out up to four batches of soup every day.
"Probably more than 50 quarts (in a week)," Dawn said.
But it's not just making and selling the soup. Everytime they sell one quart, they donate one.
"We basically match. You buy a quart we give a quart away - it's not a profit," Dawn said.
Dawn, her sister, and the other volunteers are delivering the soup to the hard-working healthcare workers at Beaumont hospital in Trenton. First they were met with surprise but then they learned how much the gesture meant.
"They actually think we were there to be tested so we pull up, we just open the door and generally have a couple of milk crates with soup in it," Wendy said. "They are so... there's no words to express their gratitude."
They're making four different kinds of soup: chicken noodle, potato, chili, and vegetable. They hope you'll stop in and supporr them and other small businesses as we all try to fight through the crisis together - and help out our healthcare workers.