Day of Giving Results

The Order surveyed our Instagram followers with the following question: What are your

WHY I Scoop Ice Cream

By Jared H. Simpkins (Epsilon Theta–Western Kentucky ’12)

My wife, Briley, and I decided to start JB's Barnyard Ice Cream as a side hustle at the beginning of 2021. We had both graduated from WKU and were working full-time jobs. With COVID-19, we had mainly been working on our house and working from home. Then an idea struck.

Briley had worked at Chaney's Dairy Farm down in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where WKU is located. She worked on the actual farm milking the cows and in the actual restaurant where Chaney's has food and ice cream. She loved it there, and we both ended up spending a ton of time on the farm, eating ice cream, and just spending time together after she got off work.

At first, we just wanted to open a store front, however, we realize that COVID-19 had been the cause of closing so many. We started small with an enclosed trailer. I finished out the trailer to health inspection codes during the first couple months of 2021, and we were on the road!

We started hitting as many neighborhoods as we could after work and on the weekends, meeting so many amazing individuals in our community. Then requests for public and private events began rolling in from individuals, companies, and schools.

Now entering our third ice cream season, we have already been burning the rubber off our trailer tires. As our brand grows, we would like to expand the sixteen flavors that we normally rotate and establish a second mobile ice cream vehicle. We also have ambitions to make our own ice cream in the near future and get into the wholesale market in the southern Indiana area.

Although JB's Barnyard does not have a storefront, if you are ever near Evansville, Indiana, in the peak of summer, you will not have a hard time finding us!

Follow Up

Kappa Alpha Order and the George C. Marshall Foundation (GCMF) have established a strategic alliance, begun in January 2021. George C. Marshall is KA’s most notable alumnus. KA has honored General Marshall with the highest Active Chapter award for excellence, Marshall was the first recipient of KA’s Distinguished Achievement Award, and the Order seeks to educate about Marshall’s legacy of leadership to its members. The GCMF was established to further those very aims and welcomes opportunities to fulfill its mission of promoting “selfless service, dedicated effort and strength of character exemplified by Marshall’s life and leadership in war and peaceand to inspire new generations to follow his example as they face the challenges of the future.” Additionally, KA seeks to support the Marshall legacy by financially supporting the GCMF. A KA contribution totaling approximately $25,000, from individuals and the Order, was among original lead gifts in the late 1960s to the GCMF and supported the Foundation by placing its original War Memorial in the museum.

Goals include, but are not limited to:

1. Marshall-centered leadership education.

2. Marshall Foundation Library and Archives tours for KAs.

3. An appropriate portrait/ print of Marshall and Words of Marshall book presented to first-time Marshall Award chapter recipients.

4. Mutual donor reciprocity of benefits and recognition at KAOEF’s George C. Marshall Circle Level—$2,500 annually.

5. The GCMF has agreed to a KA designate as a board member.

6. Joint communications strategy on KA and Marshall-related content.

7. GCMF agrees that KA’s original War Memorial Coat of Arms will be publicly displayed on property or agreement for return will be considered.