HARTFORD, S.D. (KELO) – Without a nutritious meal, it can be hard to focus throughout the day, especially for students in school. That’s why one local restaurant is raising money to make sure no child goes without a meal.

There’s a new restaurant in Hartford.

Dairy Queen opened up at the end of December.

And now a little bit of ice cream is going a long way. 25 cents of each blizzard sold during the first two weeks of business, will go to a local organization.

“We did a Facebook poll through the social media and Project 22 was actually selected amongst the community, so we let the community decide where we wanted these dollars be allocated,” general manager, Dairy Queen, Michael Ruppert said.

Project 22 is a program that helps families in the West Central School District who can’t afford a school lunch.

“To help families who do not qualify for free and reduced lunch, but also can not afford that regular priced lunch every day, so Project 22 helps those families that are in that catch-22,” Project 22 ambassador, Elizabeth Johnson said. “Recently we’ve also started to help families who have families in the elementary schools who can’t afford a snack everyday.”

In just the first week of business, Dairy Queen has raised over $350 for Project 22.

“We’ve had outstanding community support since day 1 of opening, we have a lot of younger kids, this being their first job, from that end of things, the community has been extremely excited, grateful to have us, and from our end of things we wanted to help the community and give back,” Ruppert said.

Serving up sweet treats to help area families.

“Make sure you stop by Dairy Queen and get a blizzard, I can assure you, they’re delicious,” Johnson said.

Thursday will be the last day money will go toward Project 22.