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A little boy spent the summer selling homemade ice cream in his Massachusetts town to raise money for his brother’s hockey team — but his well-intended mission ended with the city shutting him down and death threats.
When 12-year-old Danny Doherty opened his ice cream stand, he had no idea that his kid-sized business venture — Tree Street Treats — would devolve into a community-wide dispute. But that is exactly what happened.
A week after its opening, only about 20 customers tried the stand’s vanilla, shaved chocolate, cannoli and fluffernutter offerings before it was forced to shutter, the Associated Press reported. The stand had earned $124 in its first week, and Danny had donated half of those proceeds to the Boston Bear Cubs, which brings together players with physical and developmental disabilities. His brother, who is autistic, plays on the team.
On August 5, Doherty received a letter from the Norwood Board of Health regarding a potential violation of the state’s food code and insisting he “desist in these activities,” the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, said.
The complaint caught both Danny and his mother, Nancy Doherty, by surprise.
“I was surprised and upset,” the boy told the AP. “I don’t understand because there are so many lemonade stands and they don’t get shut down.”
“Somebody complained. That was the most disappointing part for us was that somebody thought it necessary to complain about a child’s stand,” Nancy said. “It seemed a little, you know, crazy if you ask me.”
Instead of throwing in the towel on his summer project, Danny gave away the ice cream in exchange for donations to the Boston Bear Cubs, The town ate it up.
After just 10 minutes into his first day with the new setup, his supplies were depleted and he had racked up $1,000. The stand had attracted the attention of local media, which in turn, prompted other businesses in town to also raise money for the hockey team.
Furlong’s Candies partnered with radio station WWBX-FM for a fundraiser that raked in thousands, the Associated Press reported.
While the store’s co-owner Nancy Thrasher said she understood why Tree Street Treats had to close, she said: “My heart broke for the kid. He was just trying to do good for his brother’s team.”
Town officials were also hearing about the thriving ice cream stand — in the form of death threats. They told AP they had received hate mail and death threats after word got out that Danny’s stand had been forced to shutter.
“We had to deal with staff who were upset that they were being threatened. People had gone online and found their addresses simply for sending a letter after having reached out to somebody and said, look, there’s a violation here,” Tony Mazzucco, Norwood’s town manager, told AP.
Mazzucco said it’s the “first time in recent memory” that the town has shut down an ice cream stand, citing a “legitimate health concern” due to bacterial contamination from homemade ice cream, unlike lemonade stands and bake sales.
While Nancy said she found it “distressing” that officials had received threats, she said she was “shocked” anyone complained about the pop-up stand. She told the AP: “This was a tiny operation. Us serving 20 friends, family and neighbors isn’t a public health action. That is someone complaining to be a complainer.”
Despite the controversy, Danny’s ice cream stand was a massive success, scooping up $20,000 for his brother’s team.
“The community response has overwhelmed us,” said John Quill, the director and coach of the Boston Bear Cubs.
“There are a lot of good people out there,” Quill continued. “Danny inspired a whole lot of people to do good and to be kind and to help us out.”
