Our Anna Banana Milk Fund

Molly’s little sister Anna passed away in 2009. Anna was an extraordinarily generous person and she also happened to love milk. She loved milk so much, that when she lived with Molly, their mom would give Molly extra milk money to make sure there was always some in the fridge.

Anna was there to help with the opening of the first Molly Moon’s shop in Wallingford, she even worked there for a little bit. In 2011, to honor Anna’s generous spirit and memory, Molly created the Anna Banana Milk Fund at Molly Moon’s. The fund began in partnership with FamilyWorks Food Bank, across from the Wallingford shop. The company donated ice cream and milk money to FamilyWorks so that their customers could have access to fresh milk and dairy. Getting fresh dairy products at food banks is always challenging, because they have such a short shelf life. Molly worked with the Executive Director Jake to set up a program for them to work with our partners so that they could get the same delicious, organic dairy that we use in all of our shops.

The fund grew and became an employee matching program so that mooncrew could be a part of supporting the food bank as well. Mooncrew choose to donate any amount from each paycheck and Molly Moon’s matches it all every month. Last year, our amazingly generous mooncrew collectively donated over $12,000! Since the Anna Banana Milk Fund has been in existence, we have donated over $200,000 to food banks in Seattle for their milk and dairy programs.

Just $10 provides all the dairy a family needs for one month, dairy that keep kids healthy and allows families to worry less about essential nutrients their family needs. To donate or to become a monthly donor and member of the Anna Banana Milk Fund - visit milkfund.org.

Over the past couple of years as Molly Moon’s has grown, the Milk Fund has also grown. We now partner with a food bank in each one of our shop neighborhoods. We partner with FamilyWorks in Wallingford, Jewish Family Service in Capitol Hill, Queen Anne Food Bank in Queen Anne, University District Food Bank near U Village, Hopelink in Redmond and the Rainer Valley Food Bank in Columbia City. Our managers in each of those neighborhoods work with the food banks when they need ice cream for anything, big or small. We encourage our teams to get to know their food bank partners, and last year began an annual Day of Service, where each shop team volunteered at their local food bank for the morning.

As these partnerships grew, we realized we could raise even more money if the Anna Banana Milk Fund was its own nonprofit. So we spent much of last year working hard to turn it into one! We can now raise money from our amazing customers and our generous partners and community members. We have learned about so many more amazing food bank programs that we hope to grow and support in the years to come. For example, the University District Food Bank’s ‘packs for kids’ program supports 11 local schools and helps over 600 students get the food they need over the weekend. Being able to give more to programs like this means packs will get more nutritious, quality foods and even more kids will be served.

Anna Banana Milk and Cookies for a Cause

On June 1^st – World Milk Day, we are celebrating the launch of our Anna Banana Milk Fund as a nonprofit that can raise and give even more money to support food banks in our communities! We’re hosting a huge milk and cookies party with Smith Brothers Farms and Hello Robin Cookies, along with six other delicious local cookie bakers! Our other favorite shops joining in and helping us raise money are Hood Famous Bakeshop, Theo Chocolate, Trophy Cupcakes, Nuflours, Sugar + Spoon and Dahlia Bakery. Join us to try all of our milk and cookies ice cream flavors, make cookie ice cream sandwiches and drink plenty of milk to raise money for our six local food banks!

Purchase your tickets here