Miracles from a Treat
- Jul 29
- 6 min read
Raising funds for a local children's hospital
By Lynn Hobbs and Debbie Lurie-Smith
Each summer, a miracle takes place in the small city of Gray, Georgia.
From Lake Country, Gray is located in Jones County just before Macon. With a population of approximately 3,500 people, Gray is the home of The Busiest Dairy Queen on Earth. And that is where the miracle happens.
Each year on Miracle Treat Day, Gray’s Dairy Queen raises a surprising amount of money for the Atrium Health Levine Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Macon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This year’s Miracle Treat Day is Thursday, July 30.
The Gray Dairy Queen is located at 315 W. Clinton St.
Other Lake Country Dairy Queens participating in Miracle Treat Day include:
Downtown Greensboro, 2251 S. Main St.; Lake Oconee, 1091 Parkside Main; and Milledgeville at 1105 S. Wayne St.
Attempts were unsuccessful to reach the Eatonton and Madison locations by phone to ask if they're participating.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Last year, owner Justin Kelly presented the hospital with a check for $180,000. In 2024, the amount was $123,677.
Kelly credits the community. “I am so very blessed to be a part of a community with such a giving heart,” he said last year. “When the businesses, citizens, law enforcement and community leadership all get together to do something here in our town, they knock it out of the park every time. Congratulations Jones County and Central Georgia on making it happen again this year in a big way for the kids.”
That same social media post was shared by the Navicent Health Foundation: “A heartfelt thank you to Justin Kelly and the entire Jones County Community for surpassing your goal on Miracle Treat Day! Your incredible support makes a real difference in the lives of the children served at (the children’s hospital). Congratulations on being the top fundraising Dairy Queen in the country!”
Kelly became the Gray Dairy Queen franchisee in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. At that time, drive-thru only service was mandated. By the time that mandate ended and he could open the doors to inside dining, Kelly said the mandate restriction had actually been a benefit.
“We were really good, probably one of the best, if not the best, at running a drive-thru window,” he said. “So then we could learn how to keep that going with the crowded inside business.”
Less than a year later when the chain’s annual Miracle Treat Day rolled around, the significance hit Kelly’s emotion because Central Georgia’s Miracle Treat Day’s poster girl lived in Gray. Kelly had gotten to know 16-year-old Emma Moseley. She was a Jones County High School student who was suffering from bone cancer. Kelly said that when Emma died unexpectedly a month before the fundraiser, he wanted to do something to honor her.
“So I got on Facebook and said. ‘I would like to raise $50,000 in Emma’s honor on Miracle Treat Day. Let’s do it.’ Well, we ended up raising over $80,000 that day,” he told Lakelife. “And it has kind of grown into something bigger than all of us at this point.”
The Gray DQ employees even joined in by donating their salaries for that day. The next year, the total amount they raised was $91,000, according to an article in the Jones County News newspaper.
Dairy Queen has been a supporter of Children’s Miracle Network since 1984. The first-ever Miracle Treat Day was in August 2006, and it has been held annually in the U.S. and Canada ever since then. At least $1 of all proceeds from each Blizzard sold at participating locations is donated to local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.
But at Gray’s DQ, every sale, not just Blizzards, goes to the children’s hospital. And not just $1, but every dime of the proceeds.
“So whether you get breakfast, lunch, or dinner, every dime goes to the children’s hospital,” Kelly said. “If we sell you a sausage biscuit that morning, we donate every dime of the proceeds to the cause.
“And then every dime is matched,” he added. Local businesses partner with Kelly’s
fundraiser to match sales for a certain hour of the day. Kelly said last year, the busiest hour was actually matched by 50 local businesses. Because they are small businesses, Kelly asks them to commit to matching up to $2,000.
“And last year, our top hour’s sales were $3,600-$3,700 in one hour,” he said. “So, 50 businesses gave $2,000, which took us to $100,000 right off the get-go.”
Partnering businesses are “given a shout-out” by Kelly on social media and on radio, he said.
Another sweet topping on the ice cream fundraiser’s total is pre-sales. Groups, such as office staff of a business, in Jones, Baldwin, Bibb, Monroe, and Wilkinson counties can pre-order online before Treat Day, and their Blizzards will be delivered between 11 a.m. and noon on Treat Day.
“It’s only a $5 donation per Blizzard, and it’s the easiest way to push us toward the goal!” Kelly said his social media promo. “Every cent of every purchase will be donated and matched that day and this is a fun way to get everyone in Central Georgia involved. Last year, we delivered 5,500 Blizzards in an hour and every freezer trailer we had was full. MAKE ME GO RENT A FREEZER TRUCK THIS YEAR!” he added.
The setup for such a busy day appears to be a miracle all in itself, but obviously a lot of hard work, cooperation, and hundreds of volunteers are involved. Freezer trailers are strategically positioned all around the restaurant as well as many large coolers. Several lanes are marked with cones along Clinton Street in front of Dairy Queen, and traffic is directed by local law enforcement agencies. That aforementioned pandemic-mandated drive-thru only service also paid off. About 2,600 cars went through the drive-thru last year on Miracle Treat Day.
To see the Jones County Sheriff's Office's drone footage of last year's traffic and parking lot, go to
“It takes a village to make an event like this happen and it was an awesome sight to see so many people show up willing to do absolutely anything needed to raise money for the kids,” Kelly said after last year’s big day. “The Gray Police Department and the Jones County Sheriff’s Office are 100% first class operations. It was the first day of school and they were already stretched thin, but they came together with plenty of manpower, plenty of equipment, cones, reader board signs, generators, lights and anything it took to help keep our community as safe as possible while moving the crowd as efficiently as possible to raise the most money possible for the Children’s Hospital.
Kelly also praised his employees for “overcoming obstacle after obstacle” such as system
crashes and equipment malfunctions.
“I can’t describe how proud I am to work alongside these men and women every year with one goal in mind,” he said of the law enforcement agencies, volunteers, and the “DQ Dream Team” of employees.
To add to the excitement of the day last year, Dairy Queen’s CEO dropped in and presented Kelly with the Local Corporate Person of the Year award.
Last but in no way least, Kelly recognized the community for showing up and supporting the effort. “You decide to spent the most money possible and wait in wild lines almost a half-mile log to help complete the mission,” he said. “There’s no other place on earth I’d rather be than right where I am.”
Smith Communications Inc. writer Greenberry Moore contributed to this article.
Comments