Essays, ice cream and a social emergency

By Darrell Laurant

Published: August 9, 2008

A recent gathering presided over by Catherine and Mike Mosley at the Church of the Covenant had all the ingredients for an old-style ice cream social — the kids, the ice cream (enough for 100 people), the outdoors, the Rescue Squad.

Actually, the latter was a surprise addition. Mike Mosley stepped in a hole just before the party started and badly injured his knee — hence, the distress call that brought a city ambulance rolling up the driveway into the church’s park.

“We offered them (the squad) some ice cream,” Catherine Mosley said, “but they were busy taking care of Mike, and very professional. So I brought some to the emergency room.”

There was plenty to go around. Catherine Mosley had won an essay contest sponsored by the Dreyers/Edy’s ice cream company (Dreyers west of the Rockies, Edy’s to the east), the prize being everything needed for a major neighborhood gathering.

According to the company Web site:

“Since the Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute program debuted in 2005, Dreyer’s has delivered ice socials to 3,000 neighborhoods and their 300,000 residents. … Dreyer’s believes ice cream is a sweet social liaison that breaks the ice, and enables neighbors to share and bond over a scoop of their flavor. And the cherry on top has been the comments Dreyer’s has received from previous winners:

“We are all so busy we usually only briefly speak or wave to each other. This was an opportunity to sit and chat for awhile. In almost 40 years of living near each other, I don’t recall ever having a party for the neighborhood before now.”  — Ruby Harris, Biloxi, Miss.

“Our neighbors are the best, because you can count on them in times of trouble or if you just want to talk and share something. We feel very lucky in these sometimes scary times that we have such a great place to live. I thank all of our wonderful neighbors for being so caring.”  — Karen Friebolin, South Whitehall Township, Pa.

“Thanks a lot — my husband had to have surgery.” — Catherine Mosley, Lynchburg, Va.

Actually, Catherine Mosley didn’t say that — in fact, she and her husband took it all in stride. They headed off to the Lynchburg General emergency room, and the party continued without them.

“We decided to have it at the Church of the Covenant because our son, Luke, had gone to camp there, and we love the people, especially the lifeguards,” Mosley said.

“We did invite our neighbors, though.”

You may have gathered from the information above that winning the Edy’s essay contest isn’t quite as competitive as, say, coming away with a Pulitzer Prize. There are, in fact 1,500 winners every year (although Mosley was the only one from the Central Virginia area), gleaned from 9,000 entries.

The thought of that was mind-boggling. Who judges these contests? Can you imagine sitting down to read 9,000 essays about ice cream?

Catherine Mosley happens to be a very good writer, who does freelance public relations work, and applauds Edy’s for its PR acumen.

“That’s just such a great idea,” she said. “It gets the product out to people, and makes believers of them.”

According to Mosley, the company even prints out the invitations.

“Our party in a box arrived full of bowls, spoons, scoops, napkins, ice cream coupons and extra gift certificates, nametags, two table covers, door hanger invitations, a yard sign, a Sharpie, a disposable camera, a metal scoop, an apron and wipes,” Mosley said.

“On (July 30) our ice cream arrived. Having a small freezer, my husband talked to the local Kroger, and they allowed us to store it there. This box contained 12 cartons (1.5 quarts) of Edy’s Slow Churned Light Ice Cream and several boxes of Slow Churned bars in a variety of flavors.”

The ice cream came packed in dry ice. Maybe Mike Mosley could have used some of it on his knee.