by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
This year is Downtown’s “Summer of Ice Cream.”
The Omni kicked things off with an old-fashioned ice cream social July 20, followed by free ice cream sundaes last Saturday at the Riverside Arts Market.
The Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of Jacksonville joined the act Wednesday in the courtyard at the Landing, when the organization hosted a fundraiser that exchanged a donation for a cup of ice cream or sherbet, donated by Doug Ganson, owner of Sundrez and Dipper Dan’s at the Landing and a past president of the ESHC board.
ESHC was founded in 1978 by a group of social service agency managers and Downtown church leaders. In 2000, it was designated as the lead agency for Duval, Clay and Nassau counties and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
ESHC assists 50 member agencies in applying for and receiving state and federal grants for programs that aid homeless people and people who use emergency services. Grants include the Continuum of Care, Homeless Housing Assistance Grant, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Grant.
Member agencies include Ability Housing, Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry, City Rescue Mission, Clara White Mission, Downtown Ecumenical Services Council, Gateway Community Services, Hubbard House, Jewish Family & Community Services, Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida, New Hope Ministry, Presbyterian Social Ministries, River Region Human Services, the Sulzbacher Center and others.
At the fundraiser, people gathered under a tent in the courtyard and ate the ice cream quickly in the sweltering heat. “We were pretty sure ice cream in August would be an easy sell,” said ESHC Executive Director Dawn Gilman.
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