Page 36 - South Mississippi Living - February, 2016

PEOPLE sweet success
Air Force veteran gives back
story by Lisa Kröger photos by James Edward Bates
ilfred Franklin was a medical administration specialist in the
air force for eight years before an injury forced him to leave. He took a job with a Fortune 500 company
where he worked for 20 years, until a doctor specializing in pain management told Franklin about a new business venture, Kona Ice.
One thing led to another, and on Jan. 1, 2015, Franklin went into the shaved ice business, complete with a full-size food truck and a “mini,” a shrunk-down version of the food truck that can go places a regular truck can’t, places such as inside schools.
It’s those schools that make this snow-cone truck so special. With his Kona Ice mini, Franklin travels to schools along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and participates in Kona Ice’s Giveback program, which lets Franklin give 25 percent of his proceeds to the schools. The money is given to the schools free
of any stipulations. They can use it to purchase computers, books, or other school supplies.
“We do a lot of field days and reward days, anything that the schools can think of to fundraise,”
Franklin says of the Giveback program. “Recently we donated a Buddy Bench to Bayou View Elementary in Gulfport. It’s a place where kids can go on the playground if they are feeling lonely or they don’t have anyone to play with. We are trying to get it in all the elementary schools in Gulfport because we feel like bullying starts in elementary schools. Hopefully it will help alleviate bullying.”
Franklin also set up his truck at St. Martin East Elementary in Ocean Springs, where the money raised was used towards completion of a new gym.
“My biggest give back so far has been $900 to Biloxi High School,” Franklin says. “All we require is just an invite. We don’t charge the schools a fee to travel. We don’t charge tax. We just come in and serve the kids.”
Franklin is a modest man when speaking about his work for local schools. Yet even in December, one
of his slower months, he raised $200 for Bel-Aire Elementary in Gulfport.
Franklin knows that any money is a good thing for these schools. He says, “I never realized how needy some schools are. Kona Ice does serve a particular niche. A lot of schools don’t have the money that
36 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • February 2016
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