How you can fight childhood cancer with an ice cream shake

How can you help support families dealing with the tragedy of a childhood cancer diagnosis? Easy. Eat some ice cream.

Both the Freehold and Holmdel Jersey Freeze locations will be teaming up with Liv Like a Unicorn to raise money to “support families dealing with pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors” according to the organization’s website.

The foundation is named for (and more impressively, was founded by) Olivia “Liv” Lipnicky. Olivia was diagnosed with a rare childhood brain cancer (diffuse midline glioma) just before her 8th birthday and didn’t live to see her 9th. This foundation keeps her memory alive by helping families dealing with childhood cancers.

Though her cancer diagnosis shouldn’t be the only thing we remember about her: Olivia loved unicorns, playing soccer, and her family. To her parents, she was their unicorn, “someone so magical that [she] didn’t seem real.”

This Saturday should have been Olivia’s 11th birthday, and Jersey Freeze is honoring that with a special fundraiser.

From Friday Feb. 18 through Monday Feb. 21, the restaurant and ice cream shop (which was one of Olivia’s favorite places to eat) will be selling “Liv’s Birthday Shake.” All of the proceeds will be donated to Liv like a Unicorn.

The shake is made of extra thick vanilla, vanilla cake crunch, “unicorn” sprinkles, and whipped cream with marshmallow drizzle on top. Yum!

Olivia started this organization to encourage others to “be the good” in the world. Even if you can’t attend the event in person, you can still “be the good” by donating here.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.