A Massachusetts ice cream shop has championed a promotion during the month of July, where kids who can successfully recite the Pledge of Allegiance will receive a free treat. Nancy Diemoz, the owner of Eskimo King, a local ice cream joint in Swansea, began the patriotic promotion in 2010 as an effort to reward local children for their appreciation to the United States.
The “I Pledge to Protect” event applies to any child up to the age of 12 who can recite the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety. The promotion occurs every Monday night between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. during July, where kids are rewarded with their choice of either a vanilla or chocolate twist cone with red, white, and blue sprinkles to celebrate the occasion.
“My boss really wanted to get into it when they started taking the pledge out of schools. She wanted to bring patriotism back into businesses,” stated Megan Medeiros, an 8-year employee at Eskimo King. “Nancy, the owner, she saw it at an ice cream shop in Savannah and she loved the idea of bringing patriotism back into early age,” 17-year employee Lauren Morra added. “She’s generous when it comes to the community. She sponsors a baseball team and she’s always down to support raffles or anything that’s going on.”
Medeiros continued, explaining the motive behind Diemoz continuing the event for the past 14 years. “I think it’s important to teach kids how to say the pledge and what the meaning behind it is. I know one of the reasons the owner Nancy wanted to keep this going, after all these years, is because she believes in being proud to be an American,” she said.
Reportedly, the promotion is very popular among the Swansea youth who flock to Eskimo King on Mondays. “Tons of kids come every Monday. Some of them come every Monday in July and they just tell us they want to do the pledge, they recite it to a worker at the window and then they get their free kiddie cone,” said Medeiros.
Morra expressed how it is a delight to see such young children so eager to participate in the patriotic challenge to be rewarded with free ice cream during their summer vacation. “It’s fun to see them of all ages especially the young kids because they get nervous when they’re trying to recite it and sometimes they have an older sibling that’s guiding them along. Its so cute,” she said. “You can tell they’re happy with themselves, they’re proud and they’re excited to get some free ice cream on top of it.”
The veteran employee at the business further noted that in the times America is enduring it is hopeful to see acts of patriotism at the local level. “The world that we live in today I think it’s really nice to keep patriotism alive in America and I know one of the reasons the owner Nancy wanted to keep this going, after all these years, is because she believes in being proud to be an American,” said Morra.
Featured image credit: uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bananas_Foster_Ice_Cream_at_Little_Giant_Ice_Cream.jpg
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