Ice on Ice, an annual fundraiser sponsored in part by Lauray's The Diamond Center and hosted by The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, raised $5,500 at the 18th annual event, held earlier this month at the Hamp Williams Building.
The event, which is the largest single fundraiser for Project HOPE food bank, also had attendees bring jars of peanut butter, which is an excellent staple for those dealing with food insecurity, the food bank's assistant director said.
"The peanut butter is always my favorite part of the Ice on Ice," Becky Choate said. "To see these ladies walking around in evening gowns carrying a jar of peanut butter, reaching out to people, it's just precious. And yes, the peanut butter goes so far, whether you're 2 years old or 100 years old, or anybody in between. The homeless can carry a jar. It's really just a good product, and it goes a long way in the kitchen."
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Toddy Pitard, owner of Lauray's The Diamond Center, carried on the tradition of providing hundreds of cubic zirconia and five diamonds that were frozen into ice cubes.
"It's a great concept that I did not come up with, so I'm not going to take credit," he said. "I kind of inherited it when I bought Lauray's a little over five years ago. We freeze CZs, several hundred of them, probably 800 or 900, 1,000 of them, in ice cubes, and within those, there's five diamonds that we freeze. As they buy a ticket, they get a drink with that ticket, and then they can buy extra tickets. And as the ice cube melts, they come up to the Lauray's table, and we test it, and hopefully it's a diamond."
While the diamonds are part of the draw, Pitard said the important thing is helping provide for people who are struggling with food insecurity.
"It's a fun event, but it's an event that puts food in people's mouths for the food bank, and that's why we do it," he said. "It's a great event. It's good for our community, but we all have to support our community. A majority of us are fortunate enough that we don't have to worry about food, but there's a lot of them that do so this helps the food bank help those people that are less fortunate."
While many nonprofits focus on a single group or problem, Project HOPE works with many organizations to provide over a million pounds of food annually.
"This is huge because it really will impact so many nonprofits that we work with," Choate said. "We work with a bunch of different nonprofits -- everything from children's homes to feeding programs, crisis centers and food pantries. And so this will go very far in helping each one of them to fulfill their mission by lowering their food acquisition costs. We're really proud to be able to have this."
Pitard said while some people may attend Ice on Ice because "it's an event," he thinks most people participate because it is a way they can give back to the community.
"We have a very giving community, and we're very fortunate to be here," he said. "And Lauray's is very fortunate to partner with the Chamber and the food bank, but we do remind them throughout the event. Matter of fact, we went on stage, and we talk about why we're here and the important part of what we're doing."
Choate said despite the holiday season, people continue to struggle with food insecurity.
"This is an event that we really look forward to every year, and it goes a long way," she said. "Really, Christmas is the giving season, but yet so many people are still struggling. We do a backpack program, and we've recently took on another 400 kids, which we're feeding them six meals a weekend. That's horribly expensive when you take on that many more kids, but you can't let the kids go hungry. And then there's always the seniors that are needing food assistance."