The Philanthropic Family

No Tivo built up in my new house yet, which means I am watching live TV (horrors).  Last night, during the fabulous Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice (thank you darling husband), I had to sit through the most horrible commercials ever.  All aimed at women, the target audience for Oxygen.  Some unwatchable birth control thing using cartoon versions of synchronized swimmers, promos for reality shows for Tori Spelling and Janice Dickenson, just garbage*.  Ah, but then there was the commercial for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Or was it a commercial for Dairy Queen?  After images of children with cleft palates, facial burns and leg braces are transformed to happy, healthy children (succinctly capturing the work of the CMN), the spot encouraged me to visit Dairy Queen today, August 7, where each blizzard sold will benefit the Children’s Miracle Network. 

According to the site www.miracletreatday.com “Blizzard proceeds from participating North America locations will benefit your Children’s Miracle Network hospital. Proceeds are sale price minus cost of ingredients.” Other than that sentence, the web site seems badly broken. Instead, I typed “Dairy Queen” and my zip code into the Google maps function and found a location near me. 

I never need an excuse for ice cream, so I won’t accuse Dairy Queen of pushing ice cream as the solution to the world’s problems. And the Children’s Miracle Network is not a fraudulent organization so I’m not going to analyze their financials or look for evidence of whether they really changed these kids’ lives or whether someone else is doing it better.  For once, I don’t want to overthink this one. Instead, I’ll just encourage you to avoid the peanut butter cups in your blizzard.  I find the chocolate too plastic-y when it gets cold. Stick with Oreos, my friends.

*The only good commercials, I have to admit, were the ones from Swiffer where your broom and mop are courting you to “baby come back” after you switched to Swiffer.  I love the rose petals leading to the broom waiting in the hot tub.