Maine Food Insider: Giffords adds flavor to Travis Mills Foundation partnership
Photo / Gifford's Ice Cream
Travis Mills holds the three flavors of Gifford's Ice Cream that have been picked to benefit the Travis Mills Foundation — World's Best Chocolate, Power Play Fudge and black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt. The Travis Mills Foundation operates a retreat in the Belgrade Lakes region for combat-wounded veterans.
Gifford’s Ice Cream, which already has a partnership with the Travis Mills Foundation, announced this week that proceeds from three flavors this year will benefit the foundation. Portions of sales of Power Play Fudge, World’s Best Chocolate and black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt will go towards the foundation, which offers support for injured veterans.
Gifford’s is putting its big guns behind the Mills foundation benefit — the flavors are among the company’s most popular, CEO Lindsay Skilling told Mainebiz last October.
While World’s Best Chocolate — yes, that’s it’s name — is always a best-seller, the black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt had climbed to fourth most popular flavor last year. It also won in the open sherbert category in last year’s World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin. The chocolate came in first in the chocolate category and was also grand champion five years in a row at the expo, from 2009 to 2014.
Power Play Fudge was developed as a new flavor to celebrate Gifford’s partnership with the Boston Bruins Foundation. Proceeds from all three flavors will also continue to benefit that foundation, the company said on its Facebook page.
Last year, Gifford’s committed to sponsoring one of the 57 veterans and their families at the Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat, at the former Elizabeth Arden mansion overlooking Long Pond on the Rome-Mount Vernon line in the Belgrade Lakes region.
The company also donated more than 60 gallons of ice cream for the families who stay at the retreat, and collaborated with the foundation to raise awareness and money at its ice cream stands.
Mills was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army in April 2012 when he was injured by an IED (improvised explosive device) during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He lost portions of both legs and arms, one of only five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive his injuries, the military has said.
He formed the foundation to help combat-injured veterans in September 2013. He is a Michigan native and he and his wife, Kelsey, and daughter Chloe, live in the Augusta area, where Kelsey is from.
In 2016, the foundation bought the estate, operated as a spa by cosmetics entrepreneur Arden from 1943-1970. The retreat opened last June and hosted families from from 23 states, a total of 150 people, last summer, according to its website.
Giffords’ five ice cream stands — in Auburn, Bangor, Farmington, Skowhegan and Waterville — opened for the season last week
The Gifford family opened their first ice cream stand, in Farmington, in 1980. Last year, the company served more than 1 million cones from its five stands, and sold more than 2.2 million gallons in all through stores. Aside from Maine stores and restaurants, the company distributes the ice cream as far south as the Carolinas and west to Nevada.
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