Fairfield Dairy Queen Raises Money For Children's Hospital

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Despite the clouds, the mood was cheery as people trooped to the Fairfield Dairy Queen on Thursday to help raise money for the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y.

Children from Fairfield come out to the Post Road Dairy Queen to enjoy a Blizzard and help support the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital on Thursday.
Photo Credit: *Alissa Smith*

Fairfield residents Anne and Jack, 12, Arnold are at the Dairy Queen on the Post Road to fundraise and give out plaques to Dairy Queen owner Nick Frattaroli and the Bridgeport Bluefish for their help in fundraising for the Maria Fareri hospital.
Photo Credit: *Alissa Smith*

Fairfield Dairy Queen employees help to raise money for the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital by making signs to hold in the street.
Photo Credit: *Alissa Smith*

Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau and Nick Frattaroli speak about the fundraising at Dairy Queen for the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital.
Photo Credit: *Alissa Smith*

Employees of the Fairfield Dairy Queen are joined in the street by members of the Fairfield Fire Department to help raise money.
Photo Credit: *Alissa Smith*

by Alissa Smith

08/09/2013 5:00 a.m.

The ice cream store was participating in the national campaign, Miracle Treat Day, in which sales of Blizzards go to raise money for children's hospitals across the country.

Fairfield Dairy Queen owner Nick Frattaroli has been working with Maria Fareri for the last nine years, and this is the second year in a row that he has donated all of his proceeds from Blizzard sales to the hospital. "I feel it is such a good cause," Frattaroli said, adding that all of the extra costs incurred by the daylong sale comes out of pocket.

Last year, he helped to raise more than $3,000 for the hospital and has hopes that he does as well this year. "The community is very supportive," he said.

That is one of the reasons that Samantha Collin and her two children went to Dairy Queen to buy Blizzards. "Once a week we get a treat, and we thought this would be a great excuses to have it today," Collin said.

For First Selectman Michael Tetreau, it is all about raising awareness and money for institutions such as Maria Fareri. Attending events such as the one at Dairy Queen, he said, is why he got involved in local politics. "I want to fully support it," Tetreau said.

When Fairfield resident Jack Arnold, 12, had to go to Maria Fareri last May for a ruptured spleen suffered in a dirt bike accident, he didn't think that he'd be out helping to raise money for the hospital.

"I want to give back to the hospital," he said. His mother, Anne, added that the hospital had been supportive and amazing during their time there.

"They're really geared toward the children," Anne said. "Thats one of the reasons we let Jack participate in [fundraising] because we believe in the facility."

Getting the community involved is what Erin Colonnese, 20, of Fairfield, said she had been doing for the past six years as a Dairy Queen employee. She has been participating in the fundraising effort every year since she started working there, she said.

"It's about the local community to give to a cause," Colonnese said. "I feel like it's rare now."

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