Dairy Queen® Gives Back to Louisiana Residents in a Time of Need

It’s been over three months now since catastrophic floods swept through parts of Louisiana.

An article in CNN claimed that this flood was the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since Hurricane Sandy four years ago. Many were left with homes destroyed. Others were luckier. But one town in particular, Denham Springs, was hit hardest. According to Mayor Gerard Landry, 90 percent of the homes in Denham Springs took on water during the flood. With most of the town washed out by floodwaters, many people had nowhere to go. That is, until one local business came to the rescue—Dairy Queen*®. Owned by the Vicari family, they were one of the only places in town that had not been affected by the flood and still had electricity—and they decided to make the most out of their situation.

As warnings of substantial rainfall filled newspaper headlines and the evening news, PJ and his father, Peter Vicari didn’t know what the fate of their store would be once the downpour subsided.

“We saw that the strip mall center across from our location was flooded, but couldn’t see what our place looked like,” PJ stated.

They rented a helicopter from their friend’s business and landed on the only place they could: the highway. Upon landing, they found their business was intact and still had power. They also saw there were about 75 people camping out in their parking lot since it was the only place that was dry. At that moment, they realized how they could help.

“We opened the doors to the people who were left homeless. The air conditioning and electricity was working so they could cool off and charge their phones. We kept them hydrated. Unfortunately, the other machines weren’t up and running or else we would have made them food as well,” said PJ Vicari.  

For three days, they had a steady amount of people coming in and out of their store.

“We were one of the only places in the city that had power, so we took advantage of that to help those in this time of need—especially families with children,” PJ Vicari stated.

PJ referred to their location and the small, dry surrounding area as “a little island” since there was no way for other people outside of their vicinity to get in and out of the area. Then, nearly three days after the flood, they finally opened the restaurant back up. Michael, PJ’s brother who handles operations at that location, was able to finally make it down to help.

“We were the first and only restaurant in the city that was open. Every single day more people would show up, and we had half the amount of people working since employees were still in shelters,” Michael said.

The community response to the Vicaris’ generosity was tremendous. Multiple people reached out to Dairy Queen’s corporate team to tell the story of how they helped out and voiced their appreciation.

And months later, this good deed hasn’t gone unnoticed—members of the community are still expressing their thankfulness to this day. Peter is currently working on building out another store right now, and he’s benefitting from the helping hand of someone from Denham Springs.

“He was back in town and mentioned he worked for Dairy Queen. Someone brought up how we helped out during the flood. It’s great that people still talk about it and are thankful,” PJ Vicari said.

This isn’t the first time Peter, PJ, and Michael have given back, and it won’t be the last. During the first month after they opened, anytime they saw a police officer or national guard, they always offered free meals. They also currently work with the local children’s hospital, work with local high schools on fundraisers, and more. Helping out the community is something the Vicaris have always done and will continue to do. For them, it’s about doing what is best for the people and their community—and that’s what drives them every single day.