After Annual Meeting, Ben & Jerry's Gets to Building

Over 175 Ben & Jerry’s franchisees, managers, staff, friends, and family members gathered for an annual community service project—this year held in the Dominican Republic. In the spirit of the company’s “peace, love, and ice cream” motto, the group chose to undertake a community action project during their annual meeting.

The recipients were Haitian and Dominican members of a small village, Macao, just a short drive from the group’s meeting location. Ben & Jerry’s coordinators worked with Habitat for Humanity. The global organization ensures that human beings have a decent roof over their heads. The chores included painting homes, repairing roofs, reinforcing walls, repairing bathrooms, and making other minor home improvements all without power-tools in the rural village setting.

“We try to do our best we can to help out wherever we go,” says co-founder Ben Cohen, who worked side-by-side with the franchisees. “We’re only sorry that we weren’t able to do more.”