Sweet Sammies, located off of West 7th Street in Fort Worth, is selling ice cream to support H.O.P.E. Farm Inc. on Wednesday as the result of a group project at the university.
Fifteen percent of all of Sweet Sammies' sales from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday will benefit H.O.P.E. Farm Inc., a nonprofit organization. The organization's name stands for "Helping Other People Excel."
H.O.P.E. Farm's mission is to "provide at-risk boys an opportunity to know Jesus Christ and develop life skills consistent with Biblical truths," according to the group's website.
The fundraiser is part of an assignment for Strive TCU, a student-driven service learning project that is part of a group discussion class taught by Carie Kapellusch.
Kapellusch said she founded Strive TCU as a way to reach the at-risk black youth of Fort Worth. The group's main goal is to expose these boys to the benefits of a college education.
Sophomore pre-majors Caroline Craven and Katie Long said they decided to organize a fundraiser as a part of their project for Kapellusch's class. Their group picked Sweet Sammies because of the company's mutual interest.
"Sweet Sammies was just so anxious to work with us," Craven said.
Another component of the group project involves doing community service at H.O.P.E Farm, where university students tutor the boys.
"They're good students. They love the TCU kids," Long said. "They ask us questions about college and they all say they want to go to TCU."
Strive TCU's affiliation with H.O.P.E. Farm began with Gary Randle, founder and executive director of the organization and one of Kapellusch's former students.
Randle served 15 years in the Fort Worth Police Department after playing basketball at TCU from 1975 to 1977. An altercation with his basketball coach caused Randle to leave the university, according to a previous article from TCU 360, but he returned to graduate with a degree in communication studies in May 2011.
Randle said he founded H.O.P.E Farm as a way to reach out to boys in the Fort Worth community from single-parent homes who lack a positive male influence in their lives.
Lizzy Karoly contributed to this report.