Kids' snow cone sales make a cool $1,200 for charity

Five Findlay youngsters have discovered that it's fun helping others — especially when snow cones are involved. The kids earned over $1,200 making and selling the icy, fruity treats. Then they used that money to stock some of the little free food pantries in town. "They are the best of friends who are always playing together," said Nicki Saldana, mom of two of children who call themselves The Southside Boys and Kam. "Now they want to know what else they can do to help." Members of the group include 8-year-old Evan Snoke and his brother, Noah Saldana, 11; Kamryn Gonzalez, who is 10; and brothers Abram, 7, and 10-year-old Liam Rodriguez. Evan and Noah are the sons of Chris and Nicki Saldana. Evan is also the son of David Snoke. He loves baseball, basketball, swimming and following Jesus. Noah, who is also the son of Christine Shaffer, plays for the Miracle League and likes to ride his bike. Kamryn is the daughter of Dave and Shenna Gonzalez. She likes playing with friends and swimming. Abram and Liam's parents are Serg and Laura Rodriguez, and the boys like to play soccer, baseball and basketball. Saldana said the idea for the snow cone stand came up one day last summer. "I was just talking to them about the community and I said, 'You know, a lot of people, they're not able to eat. They don't always have food.' And they were just astonished," she recalled. When the kids asked what she meant, Saldana told them that some parents don't have a lot of money to buy food, so they visit the food pantries around town. Immediately, the kids wanted to know how they could help. The Saldana family attends Cornerstone Baptist Church, and she said they talk often about helping others. "At first they wanted to have a car wash. And I was like, 'How about a snow cone stand?'" she said. The kids agreed and settled on a Thursday evening for the event. Saldana's husband, Chris, who is a captain at the Findlay Fire Department, put out the word online. Over the course of two hours, the kids served over 175 snow cones to family, friends and neighbors, along with Findlay police officers, the crew of Findlay Fire Engine One and two ambulance teams from Hanco. For their efforts, they brought in over $550, said Saldana. "It was crazy. I mean, we had a line built up," she said. "The fire trucks were there. The ambulances were there. And they were just blown away." Then they got to go shopping for groceries. "We would fill them (food pantries) multiple times, because you can't put $500 worth of groceries in the boxes," said Saldana. "Of course, then after we did the first stand, they're like, 'Oh, let's do another one. Let's do another one.'" Based on last summer's response, a second sale was organized earlier this month. Evan and Noah's grandparents, Dave and Kris Rice, donated a bigger snow cone machine, and a friend made special T-shirts for the group to wear. Saldana even made them a Facebook page — The Southside Boys and Kam — and word of the event spread. "And you know, we had some people stop by. We have no idea who they were, but that was awesome," she said, adding that some people who couldn't make the sale donated via Venmo. The kids sold snow cones — available in watermelon, cherry and blue-raspberry favors — for $1 each. Saldana estimated they went through 40 pounds of ice that day. They also sold can koozies that read "Southside Boys and Kam stopping hunger one snow cone at a time." The 24 koozies Saldana ordered sold out within minutes. This time, the sale generated over $700, which meant another trip to the grocery store. Saldana said the group tried to think about what would make a good meal and bought packs of noodles with canned chicken, noodles and spaghetti sauce, peanut butter and jelly, and pancake mix and syrup. "And of course, they love to include Beefaroni," she said with a laugh. "The youngest little boy, he always says, 'Nicki, we gotta get spicy Cheetos. But we gotta get them a pop, too.'" The group has filled and refilled the food boxes on north and south Main Street. Saldana said they're now trying to decide what to do next for the cause. "They just keep wanting to know what more we can do, and I'm feeling God's pull on my heart," said Saldana. "I don't know what the right answer is yet, but we're going to branch out and try to keep doing more." Wolf: 419-427-8419