Bobbie Jehle's new Redbird Community Foundation will support Walker County youth, starting with the South Walker County Support Group at the Oct. 10 Red Bird Fun Run.
NEW WAVERLY, Texas. Bobbie Jehle makes her living selling ice cream, and she has a plan to make sure Walker County works some of it off.
Jehle, who owns Red Bird Creamery in New Waverly, has created the Redbird Community Foundation, a new nonprofit dedicated to supporting Walker County youth. The foundation's first fundraiser is the Red Bird Fun Run, set for 9 a.m. on Oct. 10 at the Christmas Village in Huntsville, with check-in beginning at 8 a.m.
Registration is open now through redbirdcreamery.com, where a link takes runners to the signup page. Jehle encouraged people to sign up early so organizers can plan. Sponsors from across the community have already stepped up to help fund the event.
A 5K With Ice Cream at the Finish Line
The course includes a 5K and a one-mile walk or run, and runners get a sneak peek of the Christmas Village, the holiday attraction that opened last year. Jehle said runners will get a feel for the village and its layout, though the lights will not be on yet.
"We've got really cute medals for when you cross the finish line and a shirt and then yeah, you get ice cream," Jehle said.
The idea came from a family tradition. After her children were born, Jehle said, the family would travel to a fun run at another little ice cream shop in Brenham, Texas, where ice cream at the finish line was the incentive that made the whole thing work.
"I thought we have to do that," Jehle said. "Of course."
She also admitted a second motive, with a laugh. "I don't want 10 years from now there be this sociological impact study of how Walker County has gained all this weight because of Redbird Creamery, right?" Jehle said. "I'm trying to encourage some fitness out there, some activity."
A New Foundation for Walker County Youth
The fun run came first. The foundation followed when Jehle realized fundraising needed a nonprofit behind it.
"If you're raising money, you need to have a nonprofit behind it," Jehle said. "And so then that's where the idea of the community foundation came from."
"We created the Redbird Community Foundation and our goal for that is to support Walker County youth and that could be in a whole host of ways," Jehle said.
Each year, the fun run committee will choose which organization the event benefits. For the inaugural year, the committee selected the South Walker County Support Group, which raises money throughout the year to buy kids' projects at the Walker County Fair when they come up for auction.
Jehle said the first-year effort has raised around $14,000. "I'm excited to be able to hand that to them," she said.
Looking ahead, the foundation plans to open the process up. "We'll have organizations be able to apply to us and be able to submit a request on how we could donate to them for future years," Jehle said.
"Youth is important to me," Jehle said. "Children and youth in our community and finding ways to support them."
From a Committee of One to Twelve
Jehle expected to organize the run mostly by herself. The community had other plans.
"What I thought was going to be a committee of one has now become a committee of about 12 of us who's putting it on," Jehle said. "The community has really stepped up, just people coming together and hearing about it and saying, 'Oh, how can I help?'"
She also got guidance from Deanna Irwin, who has organized fun runs of her own and came on as an adviser. When Jehle admitted she had never put on a fun run, Irwin told her it was easy.
"She had a very straight face and was very convincing actually," Jehle said. "And so I fell for it."
Red Bird Creamery is a family-run ice cream shop at 210 Gibbs St. in New Waverly. The shop crafts its ice cream in small batches with rotating weekly specials, and the flavor board runs from classics like vanilla, chocolate and butter pecan to house creations like Red Bird Red Velvet, blackberry cobbler and chocolate overload, plus seasonal flavors. The shop also makes homemade Italian ices in non-dairy, gluten-free flavors such as mango, pina colada and sour apple.
The creamery's ice cream truck is available for private events, from weddings and birthday parties to school and church events.
Jehle discussed the fun run and the foundation on Good Morning Huntsville.
About Bobbie Jehle and Red Bird Creamery
Bobbie Jehle owns Red Bird Creamery, a family-run ice cream shop at 210 Gibbs St. in New Waverly. She founded the Redbird Community Foundation to support Walker County youth. Register for the Oct. 10 Red Bird Fun Run and learn more at redbirdcreamery.com.