Tropical Smoothie Cafe

It’s that time of the year again for National Flip Flop Day, a special day where Tropical Smoothie Café in the Dayton-Springfield area encourages customers to kick off Summer—and their shoes—for free smoothies and a good cause.  Today,  Friday, June 20, customers who stop by any participating Tropical Smoothie Café location nationwide between the hours of 2 pm and 7 pm wearing flip flops will receive a free 24 oz. Jetty Punch Smoothie. During this time, customers can show their support for Camp Sunshine. Customers who purchase a $5 flip flop key fob will be rewarded with a 10 percent discount on all future purchases through the end of the year. Online donations are also accepted at www.nationalflipflopday.com.

This is the eighth consecutive year in which Tropical Smoothie Café is committed to bringing on the sunshine for kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families. The goal this year is to raise more than $600,000 to benefit Camp Sunshine.

“We are proud to support Camp Sunshine and everything the organization stands for,” said Doug Ruggles owner of Tropical Smoothie Cafés in Beavercreek and Fairborn. “Camp Sunshine gives kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families a much-needed break. It’s a chance to leave behind the doctor visits, medical tests and anxious waits for results – if only for a week.”

For more than 25 years, Camp Sunshine has offered kids and their families a getaway from the difficulties of their everyday lives. Located on the shores Lake Sebago in Maine, Camp Sunshine is the only nonprofit organization in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family. Parents receive support from medical staff and others who can relate to what they are going through first-hand, while kids get to be kids, have fun, and get away from the stresses of everyday life living with their unique disorders.

Families like the Fishershave been going to Camp Sunshine for several years. Their son, Joshua, has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a blood cancer in which cancer cells penetrate every part of his body, since age 2. The Fishers say, “When your child is very sick, it becomes very lonesome for the child and for the family as it becomes very isolating. Camp Sunshine brings families together that all experience the same thing. It enables our entire family to have so much fun. There are very few places we can go that we can all be together and relax due to the fact there is a physician there and everybody there knows what it means to have a child that is sick. Camp Sunshine has brought so much happiness to our lives, and we are grateful that Tropical Smoothie Café has been so gracious and enabled families like ours to have these fantastic memories.”

The cost of sending one child with a life-threatening illness and their family to this special retreat for a week is $2,000, and Camp Sunshine relies on donations from corporate supporters, like Tropical Smoothie Café, and individual donors to continue to offer its programs free-of-charge.

“Camp Sunshine is a lifeline for so many families, giving them the gift of treasured memories and precious time with the ones they love and others that can relate,” said Ruggles. “With the help of our customers, we hope to send even more families to this wonderful camp this year.”

To date, Tropical Smoothie Café has donated more than $2 million to Camp Sunshine, sending 1,000 children and their families to experience the camp. Last year, Tropical Smoothie Café raised a record-breaking $515,000 for Camp Sunshine and the brand plans to exceed that number in 2014 by raising $600,000 which would cover the costs to send 300 families to the camp.

There are seven area cafes, check the Tropical Smoothie Cafe website to find the one nearest you.  Tropical Smoothie Café’s menu boasts bold, flavorful food and smoothies with a healthy appeal, all made to order from the freshest ingredients. We find that superior, simple ingredients including real fruit and veggies set our smoothies apart from the others.

Their toasted wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads and gourmet salads are made fresh with high quality meats and cheeses and topped with fresh produce and flavorful sauces.