Dear FamilyWorks Friends,

My name is Molly Moon Neitzel. You may know my name from my ice cream shops, the first of which is in FamilyWorks’ lovely little corner of Wallingford. I am writing today to tell you about a fund I have helped to create at FamilyWorks in memory of my little sister, Anna. Like many sets of siblings, Anna and my relationship was a complex blend of best friends and nurturing, I being almost nine years older than her. Despite our age difference, we were the closest sisters of any I’d ever met. We also shared something a bit strange: passionate love of milk! Long before I focused my milk-related passion on opening an ice cream shop (with much help from Anna, I must add!) our childhood milk addiction was known by our entire family. As little girls, our aunts and uncles and our great grandmother knew to prepare for out-of-town visits from us by purchasing extra gallons of our favorite creamy beverage. Well into adulthood, when Anna moved in with me shortly before the Wallingford shop opened, our mom would slip me extra money to support our milk-drinking habits. After a devastating motorcycle accident, Anna passed away in the fall of 2009 from injuries sustained in the crash — though she did not suffer a single broken bone. To say that my life and my family will never be the same is an incredible understatement.

FamilyWorks is right across the street from the shop Anna helped me open. About 350 households utilize the Family Works Food Bank per week, and I couldn’t envision a more appropriate way to honor Anna’s memory, her love of milk, and her giving spirit than to create a fund that will provide each of those families with plenty of milk to drink. I started the fund and will be attempting to get enough monthly donors to always keep the milk flowing freely for all of those families. Your donation of just $10 per month will provide all the milk a family will need for pick-up each week. I have arranged for my milk man, John, from Smith Brothers Farms, to deliver fresh milk weekly in the amounts that we can raise from these monthly donations. Please consider signing up for a monthly donation to help me remember and honor Anna, and for the families who need our help. Click HERE to help!

Thank you so much,

Molly