This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Seven-year-old Jack Stevenson stood in his driveway in Sunset on Thursday afternoon crushing ice for snow cones he had made for neighbors, friends and a K-9 police dog across the street.
"It's summer vacation," Stevenson said preparing a cup of snow for the dog. "Everyone loves snow cones."
The event Sno-cones for Safety, organized by the little boy bearing the plastic police badge, raised funds for K-9 units in Clinton, which also serve the city of Sunset.
After Stevenson found the book Police Dogs in his school library, he knew it would become his mission to help the K-9 units that keep his city safe.
Just a month after school let out for the summer, Jack set to work making plans to raise money for vests for the city's K-9 units, just like the main character he read about in the book.
Jack set his goal, $300, and practiced his snow cone-making skills.
At the beginning of July, he felt ready to start selling. With the help of his family, Jack began holding snow cone sales once a week on Thursday afternoons in the family's driveway. He has held four sales so far this summer.
His mother said they have raised nearly $160 from the sales; each snow cone costs 50 cents, and donations can be made in person or through a PayPal set up for family and friends who can't make it to the stand.
"It's cool that he's learning that when he makes good choices, those choices positively affect others," said his mother, Peggy Stevenson.
After asking a police officer at the family's church how Jack could best help the officers with his earnings, he met with Clinton City police Officer Justin Glommen and his K-9 partner Delta, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois Labrador mix. Delta already had a vest, Glommen told Jack, but any money he raised would go toward maintaining her.
"It's not about the money he makes doing this," Glommen said. "It's about knowing he's part of something good."
Small children gathered around a folding table in the shade of the Stevensons' driveway Thursday, yelling out the colors of flavored syrup they wanted poured atop cups of snow. "Purple," "Red," "Blue," they shouted.
Ashe-Lee Tingey, a neighbor, asked her five little ones reaching for the cups of the frozen treat, "Do you know why we're eating these?"
The children looked up at her with lips stained and looks of confusion on their faces.
"They are going to help the dog in that truck," Tingey said, pointing to the police van containing a K-9 dog across the street.
Tingley said a fire broke out after a light post burst in her backyard a couple of months ago and the Clinton officers responded to help. She pointed to Glommen and told her kids, "That man helped us with the fire, now we can help his dog."
The Stevensons plan to continue hosting Sno-cone for Safety events once a week until Jack meets his goal. Jack said he will crush ice from 2 until 4 p.m. every Thursday afternoon until he can get Delta everything she needs.
Support the cause
P Visit the snow cone stand every Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. across from Clinton City elementary school.